vs Astros 6/4

Well, I never said anything about preferring McKenna in my previous post.  I just said I didn't miss watching Austin Hays play and then you just had to ask if that meant I preferred watching McKenna.  What made you assume that I'd think such a thing, I'm not sure. You should know that Hays going down and McKenna coming up doesn't mean that McKenna is all of a sudden taking Hays' at bats full time.  No, it means more playing time in LF for Cowser and McKenna is the last outfielder playing as a defensive replacement and maybe getting a start once a week.  That's it.  That's as far as I thought it through. But since you just had to ask and make me think about it, I think I'd actually watch McKenna full time over Hays right now and I don't have to think twice about it. @Sports Guybeat me to it, but Hays has been so spectacularly bad that McKenna has outperformed him since the All-Star Break last year to present day. Similar stats to what SG showed, I ran them from the ASB last year...of course, McKenna is a part time player so we can't say for certain if he'd be able to replace Hays full time, but he'd have to be really pathetic to be as bad as Hays has been: Hays:  .209/.275/.335 for a 69 wRC+ .   -1.58 in WPA.   McKenna:  .275/.339/.431 for a 116 wRC+. -0.22 in WPA.   Unfortunately fangraphs or bbref doesn't spit out WAR for the amount of time you want to look at, but I can't imagine Hays is in the positive since the ASB last year.  He's certainly in the negative for 2024.  McKenna probably isn't. I get it, McKenna is kind of a doofus and the board's whipping boy for no good reason.  I mean, the dropped ball in Fenway, last year, whatever.  He's a 4th or 5th outfielder, I'm not trying to pretend that he's anything more than that.  But even if McKenna took every day at bats from Hays, I don't know if that'd necessarily be a bad thing.   So actually, thanks for your question.  Yeah, I think I'd prefer to watch McKenna over Hays right now.  At least, I'd like to see if McKenna could be as miserable as Hays has been since mid-July last year...that'd actually be pretty hard to do. I'll leave you with this:  even Mateo has actually been better in every slash category than Hays in the same amount of time since the 2023 ASB:  .231/.283/.388 for a 87 wRC+  

Wells could be the answer if he is healthy.  He did a solid job out of the pen his first year here.  Had nerves of steel.  He throws strikes.  Sometimes too many and gives up some bombs but a healthy Wells might be better than a wild and perhaps injured himself Kimbrel.

I doubt there is anything much wrong with Kimbrel's head.  He just doesn't have the stuff he used to have and his arsenal doesn't work as well at a lower velocity.  How do you turn him into a 6th or 7th inning pitcher?  He just got older that's all.  Happens to all athletes. That said I'm not an expert on pitching, so anyone out there who knows a lot about it please give us your take.

Didn’t know where else to post this. 1. McKenna goes in as a PR has 2B stolen easily and over slides the bag and is tagged out. 2. On the line drive double over his head, which may have been uncatchable, it looked like he took a bad route. 3.  On the sac fly it seemed like he was waiting to see if the runner from 3rd was going.   He was in fairly shallow RF, close to the line, took 3 extra steps before actually throwing the ball.   

Tyler Wells is rehabbing his right elbow down in Sarasota. And that’s the extent of any updates. Wells went on the 15-day injured list retroactive to April 13 with inflammation in the elbow. “He’s resting, he’s rehabbing in Sarasota,” Hyde said. “Right now, it’s just letting the inflammation go down.” Asked if there are any concerns with the diagnosis, Hyde said, “We’re just giving him rest right now.” https://www.masnsports.com/orioles-rss/orioles-pregame-notes-on-rodriguez-wells-hays-rotation-and-more

Is Wells even pitching yet?

He might win Rookie of the Year in the AL. I doubt they are doing a 1:1 if they trade him at all, which I also doubt.