Tony-OH

Hard to get too pissy with Kremer, he just doesn't have anything tonight. These games happen with pitchers. The key though is whether this is just a bad game or he hit the wall.

Wow, did we need that...

Kremer going to end up getting hurt..

Kremer is going to take one on the chin here. He's probably in for at least 90 pitches unless he start to get close to 40 this inning.

No command at all..

Really need Kremer to get through this inning and settle down.

C'mon now, this is a the game thread, but Severino? lol

Anyone warming up? Kremer is a clownshow tonight.

He should be able to, but not sure how many.

I'm going to say it again, Elias can't keep a bullpen where you don't have a long guy. The decision to send Irvin down has bit them in the ass multiple games and is part of the reason why the bullpen is toast. Kremer looks like a A-ball pitcher tonight. He'll give up ten runs if they don't take him out.

Wow, what a completely shitty 0-2 pitch by Kremer. He's got nothing and my not make it out of this inning. Let's hope this is a bad outing and not him hitting the wall.

Damn, huuuuugggeeeee catch there by Santander.

We never know when these guys are going to run out of gas. Kremer doesn't have command of anything.

We are in a lot of trouble if Kremer can't figure this out. No way this bullpen can handle a short start and Elias' decision to bring up Wells instead of Zimmermann (who can provide length) could make this a real disaster.

This is my fear. She'll become owner and allow JA to keep "running" the team as quasi-owner.

It appears to me it's to take money baths, while threatening the local peasants that he will need to take more of their hard earned money if they want to keep seeing a winner. He needs to be visited by three ghosts in the night!

Did you think Hicks should have made the play? I initially did until I saw that post about him needing to go 114 feet. Once I timed the amount of time in the air, I think that catch probably for Hicks was very low and when you add in a fielder running out and getting there first, I think the probably of him calling him off and making the play to be almost 0%. I know xBA is not a perfect estimation and catch probability is better, but they don't share catch probability for infielders. And once it hit Frazier's glove, I think it gave the play to Frazier and not Hicks so their is no way other to try and find an outfielder who had to run 114 feet around 5.1 seconds and see the catch probabilities. Even that is not perfect because catch proximity takes into consideration the angle the outfielders have to run in. I agree with you though, I wish more data was available to the general public on this including in game information on catch probability.

I rewatched the Frazier non-catch in the 8th and whether it was Frazier or Hicks, that ball has to be caught. Frazier got there but looked to be too worried about turning and throwing home with the runner on 3rd than making the catch and it bounced off his glove. I'm sorry, but that's an error in my book at the major league level so these new fangled scorers and think everything is a hard play can suck an egg. That hit had a .100 xBA so it needs to be caught. Now let's talk Hicks on that play. Hicks took off and looked to be sprinting, but started to slow up as it looked like Frazier was camping under it. According to Ruiz he had to go 113 feet to get the ball and Frazier had to go 104, so it explains why Frazier got there first. I did a little research and honestly, it's fairly rare for an outfielder to run 114 feet to make a catch and while I was unable to find a hit or out at the same distance with the 5.1 time in air, I did find one that was 114 feet with 5.5 seconds in the air and it had a 35% catch probability. Now I didn't look at the direction but it's fair to say that Hicks had a low probability to make that catch with the distance he had to cover, so that was definitely the second baseman's ball. Regardless, the run didn't matter since the Orioles weren't able to get any runs in the top of the 9th, but yes, I do think Westburg makes that play because he's much faster than Frazier and has shown a good ability to make pop up catches.

There's a good piece on him that is linked somewhere earlier in this thread. In synopsis, he was once a very top prospects that fizzled out in the Japanese League due to imagine this, inconsistency of command. His 5.00 ERA with the Orioles better than his 8.57 ERA with the A's, but you can why teams were leery.

Getting anything out of Bautista at this point would be a bonus. I just can't imagine a guy coming back with a torn UCL and being effective, but we shall see.

Tough bullpen night for sure, but they are taxed right now. The Orioles need a long start by Grayson badly tonight.

The arm may even be better than Gunnar's, it's that special. Mayo moves pretty well for a big guy at 3B, but his hands aren't great and he still can have throwing accuracy issues when his footwork gets out of step. He comes in on the ball pretty good, but he still makes a bit too many errors. Gunnar, Westburg, and Ortiz are all better than him at 3B not to mention Urias. Only Gunnar matches his power potential though. Ortiz really surprised me how good he's looked at 3B in his limited opportunities there. he may not have that golden arm like Mayo and Gunnar, but it plays on the left side of the infield.

Willems got a $1 million bonus, not 600K. Still, he was pushed aggressively to Aberdeen and struggled there, but part of that may be just him wearing down in the summer. One of the drawbacks of being a "chubby" guy, especially a guy playing behind the plate, that it take a toll. Since August, Willems has been pretty brutal at the plate slashing .149/.241/.237/.477 with 38Ks and just 2 homers and 11 walks in 133 PAs. So the question is, was he worn out, or did he reach a level that he was not able to make adjustments to yet? He had the same problem with his first go around in Delmarva so I'm not going to bury him too much until we see what he looks like next year in Aberdeen. Saying all that, it's unfair for anyone (not saying you did) to compare him to Basallo. Basallo is a special kind of prospect. There aren't many that look like him at his age.

The one thing Hyde needs to take into consideration, and I know it's tough when the bullpen is worn out like it is right now, but Fuji can't be used in back to back days. He's pitched 11 times this year with 0 days rest has allowed 11 earned runs on 13 hits and six walks in just 7.2 IP to sport a 12.91 ERA. His 2.48 WHIP tells you everything you need to know that he's not a guy that can recover quickly. 1-3 days rest seems to be his sweet spot.