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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    So, are you saying the Twins should have hired his Spanish-speaking brother, Raul Molitor?
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    Just off the top of my head, wasn't Grady Little fired by the Dodgers only after Joe Torre stepped down from the Yankees job? Proven top managers hitting the market is pretty rare by itself. It seems more a sample size issue than one that proves the "ugliness" of such an action. How about we expand the sample by looking at other sports? I don't think anyone bats an eyelash when this happens in a major college sport (except, perhaps, if they were using public funds to buy out the departing coach... or if the attempted upgrade seems futile -- I'm looking at you, Golden Gophers ). In any case, it seems like a distinction without a difference to me. You're still talking about the same personnel business where TERRY RYAN of all people, one of the most universally respected men in the game, fires a man one month after saying he wouldn't. Circumstances change, not usually as suddenly or quickly as a manager opt-out, but they do change. (Heck, one could argue that the Twins may have "waited" to replace Gardy until Molitor was "available" in the sense that he was willing to return to the dugout full-time.) The definitive reasoning for firing Renteria is probably better than many managers receive upon their exit. Again, you can feel bad for Renteria (and I do) without any attributing anything "ugly" to Maddon or the Cubs. And you can also assert that it's an unwise use of resources for the Cubs too. But it's a real stretch to call anything "ugly" here in the sense of unethical or dishonorable.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually at 23 he was sentenced to a year in Salt Lake. Age 22 he was pretty much our full-time 1B, with a two-month intermission only for wrist surgery and rehab. Got a full year of MLB service time, I am pretty sure. It's what made his absence at age 23 all the more notable.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    Was initially concerned about our huge jump in K's in 2013, but he did at least follow it up with a pretty big jump in runs scored in 2014, so I am fine with another year of Bruno. I would definitely re-evaluate next winter, though.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    I get your point, on the very surface of it all, it looks like the Cubs and/or Maddon could have done Renteria wrong on some level. But if you look past that at all, just reading the more detailed reporting coming out of Chicago, it's pretty clear that the whole thing was above the level and SOP. Ultimately, a manager of a losing team didn't finish a multi-year contract. Still disappointing on some level for Renteria, but as others mentioned, he's guaranteed the cash, and he will likely get another opportunity because everyone understands the context: Renteria wasn't the reason the Cubs lost in 2014, and he only got replaced with the highest-paid (and arguably most-respected?) manager currently in the game. Nothing "ugly" about any of it. If you are suggesting the only honorable thing would have been for Maddon to pass on the job, and/or the Cubs to pass on Maddon, that really has no basis in reality.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Not to nit-pick on this side discussion, but Ortiz debuted at age 21 (2.5 months shy of 22), Vargas at exactly age 24. By Ortiz's 24th birthday, he had over 1000 PA at AAA/MLB. Although performance-wise, so far Vargas has a higher MLB OPS+ and wRC+ than Ortiz through the same age, although Vargas benefits from a smaller sample. (Admittedly, Ortiz was better in the minors, even accounting for context, except for another Vargas small sample in low-A.)
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    I remember acquiring an unopened pack of 1987 Topps cards in around 1993 or so, and the gum was rather inedible already by that time. (Some might argue it was always inedible )
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    The T-shirt is cool, but I don't need the rest of it at that price. I found the shirt listed separately but "out of stock".
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    To be fair, if I worked at the Star Tribune, I wouldn't read the comments either...
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    But which one?
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    I think Anderson can/does get some credit, but it's probably a case of too little, too late. (Although personally I am mostly ambivalent about the manager/coaching changes, I don't think they had much to work with lately.)
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    The Cubs front office spoke to Renteria before talking to Maddon: http://voices.suntimes.com/sports/inside-the-cubs/cubs-announce-they-have-fired-rick-renteria/ I believe Maddon (and his agent) also publicly denied any initial interest in the job out of respect for Renteria currently holding the position, at least until they were sure Renteria had been consulted about a possible change (sorry I don't have a link handy). Absolutely nothing happened behind anyone's back. Not sure what else you expect. TR said in August that Gardy will be back as manager in 2015 too -- should their future meetings be awkward? Heck, from my vantage point, it's almost a certainty that TR hired Molitor last winter with the intention of replacing Gardenhire if the team didn't improve, even before his contract ended. To say the two situations are completely different from an ethical perspective, given the facts we know, looks like some kind of homerism.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    It's a cool article, but I think "uncanny" oversells it. There are definitely some similarities, mostly by FIP/fWAR and obviously a drop in walk rate. But even prior to their respective breakouts, Lee had two seasons of better fWAR than Hughes' best as a starter -- Hughes seems to have more of a history of FIP under-performance, suggesting his 2014 FIP under-performance wasn't simply luck. Hughes' run prevention and rate stats also get a boost from his time in the bullpen -- the difference between them is a bit larger if you leave that out and only compare their time as starters. And in their breakout seasons, Hughes relied on a historically low (and perhaps unsustainable) raw walk rate, while Lee's raw walk rate was good but basically standard Radke. And as the article mentions, part of Lee's breakout was him becoming a big-time inducer of grounders, which made his run prevention a lot more sustainable too. Nevertheless, I love me some Phil Hughes. So far a great signing and turnaround -- it was very weird to see a pitching coach dismissed right after it. I would be thrilled if Hughes can simply match his 2014 performance.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Yeah. Span is an outfielder too, which suggests less interaction with Molitor (Walker mentioned that as well). And Span really only would have worked with Molitor in the minors immediately after his failed Seattle gig when he returned to the Twins as a roving minor league instructor, and logic suggests that perhaps Molitor was not as active in that role initially as he would have been later, when he jumped to a MLB coaching spot.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Just starting to read the offseason handbook. After discussing his medical absence, TR was asked about Worley and began his response like this: Sounds like TR recused himself from the ultimate Worley decision, which is disappointing. Looks like an old Bill Smith era move, where the front office was just executing moves based on the coaches whims and desires, with little regard for the bigger picture. Just after this point in the interview, he also deferred on the move to add Bartlett to the roster (and what role to give him). It's awfully hard to read that interview and not come away convinced that TR has twice left his job to an administrative type carrying out coaches orders, and TR is weirdly OK with that state of affairs...
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Just starting to read the offseason handbook, and it includes this line from TR about the manager search: Interesting that they hired the one major candidate who has never handled a pitching staff, nor does it appear he's ever really interacted with a pitching coach in the official duties of his job (at least not much recently).
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    I had a strange dream last night that, in a surprise move, Bobby Kielty was named Twins manager. Glad to see the Twins quickly confirmed otherwise this morning.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Generally not a fan of a team hiring its former players or a manager hiring his former teammates, though. It's not necessarily bad, but it makes you wonder what the criteria is for the position (and makes you wonder how much the team really cares about the position). Especially when an organization/manager does a lot of this sort of hiring. Pitching coach seems like a particularly important position too.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    If Chris Bosio is dismissed by Chicago with Maddon aboard, he could be a candidate. Molitor's former teammate in Milwaukee. The Cubs haven't be very good, but they've had some decent reclamation pitching projects recently -- Arrieta, Feldman, Maholm.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually, they considered each player's destination independently -- so while they consider Minnesota the most likely destination for both Hammel and Anderson, they don't necessarily think the Twins will sign both. Here's the relevant explanation from their post:
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    As far as theories go, this one isn't that wild. I think we will get some more evidence when the pitching coach is named (and possibly the rest of the coaching staff too).
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    Pitching coach decision is going to be huge, I think. That will be a good indicator how much Molitor is really "manager material" and how much "outside thinking" he's bringing to the job.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Molitor has spent one year of his 15 years post-retirement working for another organization than the Twins. And it was disastrous and 10 years ago. Molitor was apparently considered for the Minnesota manager's job 13 years ago, but passed over for Gardy. Molitor was brought back to the MLB dugout for the first time in 10 years last winter, to be Gardenhire's bench coach after Gardy was nearly fired himself. I've got nothing against him and I wish him well, but he's not much of an outsider.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    I'm with you, but even if we like Masterson's rebound chances, there could be a lot of teams competing for his services (same with Morrow). A trade for a younger pitcher than Buehrle will also cost more in trade, and how much talent or potential can the Twins afford to give up at this point? We still need to get a lot more talent to our MLB team. And while it would be great to secure a guy like Ervin Santana if we like him long-term, it could be disastrous to force another Nolasco-type move if we're not really confident in him. As to flipping Buehrle midseason, players capable of bringing back a decent prospect at the deadline generally aren't available on one-year deals before the season.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    Here's a point we probably agree on -- I am not yet convinced Toronto will want to do a salary dump (accepting marginal prospect(s) in return) of Buehrle either.
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