sportsfan8703

CF depth is thin in MLB. McKenna cleared after OD. Not crazy to think he’d go unclaimed today.

O’Hearn is a better defensive OF than Kjerstad.

This is our best possible bat lineup.

Yes, I thought about that when I posted it, but people think we have this endless supply of prospects. If we trade Norby and Stowers away because they’re spare parts, then one of Mayo/Basallo for Mason Miller, then our system is just Holliday, Kjerstad, EBJ, and one of Mayo/Bassalo. All of that without having picks in early rd 1. We’ve hit on a lot of picks, but still have struggling picks/money spent on Trimble, Rhodes, Wagner, Horvath, Fabian, and Carter Young. The draft is no guarantee.

The “two game losing streak” and the “almost swept” really bothered people. Bothered them so much that maybe they’re ok without an all “homegrown” position group.

True, though in my mind I was kind of thinking Cowser might have to play CF. Also, come next OD, Beavers will be in the mix for an OF spot. With all of our LHH, Norby should be able to carve out a mini Zobrist lyte role with us in COF/2B. This system really isn’t that deep past Mayo, Basallo, Holliday, Beavers, and EBJ.

Norby can’t be worse than Kjerstad or O’Hearn in the OF. 2025 OF LF - A Stowers/Norby platoon RF - Kjerstad CF - Mullins

Does he play baseball for a living? Yes Can he field routine ground/fly balls? Yes Will he have great range in the IF/OF? No Strong Arm? No Can he hit MLB LHP? This will be the determine factor.

That’s my point. Mateo has great range at 2nd base. With all the bat talk, have we really discussed how good Mateo has been at 2B? We haven’t really seen him play there in his Oriole career. What is Mateo’s range like compared to other MLB 2B purely at 2B? Can that be looked up? Rep to anyone that knows.

The only way McCann goes somewhere is if somehow a Catcher with options hits the DFA market, we claim him, and down the road McCann gets hurt and said catcher wins the job. In the playoffs, we’ll see Adley catching every game. That’s our big advantage. Adley’s bat at the catcher spot. Urias for Mayo/Holliday is what the long term goal should be for August. Urias is a fine regular season player, but this team can go to another level offensively if Mayo/Holliday can get to a .750 OPS in the MLB the rest of the season. Similar to how we developed Gunnar last year.

Wagner and Horvath are the only real disappointments so far for me. How much does injury play a role in that? The tiers with the bats look to be, Potential Stars/All Stars - Holliday, Mayo, and Basallo Everyday starters for the O’s - Kjerstad, Beavers, EBJ Platoon Player/starter for another MLB team - Norby Too Early to tell/Flawed - Horvath, Wagner, Fabian, Willems, Etzel

Realistically, we have to use the bullpen for a min of 3 IP each game. Win or lose. 5 IP if extra innings or a blowout. So what’s going to change?

We saw with Jordan Romano how much a big time closer can make a difference.

We do need a RH OF bat to compliment our LH OF bats. Either Pham or Hicks. I still don’t know why people are against Hicks. He’s a SH. Can play all three OF spots. Takes pitches. Had an .860 OPS with us last season and hit a 3 run HR in the playoffs. With the current makeup of the roster when would Stowers or Kjerstad play? Hicks would play versus LHP. There’s a clear path for ABs for him.

My math tells me that we've been better since the bats have went cold. Is there a quick way to find opponents faced SP ERA? We've been facing some of the top pitching in the league and it's not letting up in the SEA series. I suspect our offense will start to increase when the grind of 162 starts to wear teams down and there will be injury fill ins to rotations. Plus, the warmer weather. It's rained something like 16/20 days here and 15/19 weekends in 2024. Bad weather in the Pitt series too.