Tony-OH

Haven't really starter to look at that, but I'm not for Verlander.

Really good for them. They needed some time off.

Such hustle from Maldonado.

Just like that!

Time for CEd to break out!

Lol, Aguilar looking like the dumpster fire of a hitter that he's been all season. But here he is in the starting lineup!

Kremer is dealing tonight. That curveball has gotten back to the Double-A version.

They already made sure Gunnar will stay a rookie. They can basically play him the rest of the year and he'll still be under the eligibility. Stowers will have more than 45 games on a major league roster so he will not be a rookie no matter what his PAs say.

I'd like to know what in Aguliar's stats this suggest he makes the team better in anything but a late in game PH against a left reliever down by a run when you hope he runs into one. If Hyde or whoever is making these lineups thinks Aguilar makes the team better in any way then I question the decision making that allows them to come up with that. Seems that either Hyde or the Sig's computer model looks over three years of stats makes decision vs what the player has done this year.

Yet Stowers hit lefties well so maybe that evens out? Hey, sounds like a challenge for Stowers. Shouldn't we be challenging him like that this year?

Ok, this Aguilar thing is out of control. Unless Stowers is hurt, there is no reason for him to be out of the lineup against right-hander (or left-hander for that matter) to play Jesus Aguilar. These are the things that make me question whether Hyde is the manager of the future here. This team is going to have a lot of rookies coming up, and we can't have a manager who loves veterans. Now because I said this Aguilar will hit two bombs tonight, but I'm sorry, Stowers should not be sitting to play a guy who has nothing to do with our future and should have nothing to do with a present. Did I miss something about Stowers tweaking something or this just a case where Hyde realized he accidently started Stowers two games in a row and rectified that tonight against a right-hander?

Yeah, it's starting to look like he's a guy that can't take a workload despite his size that would suggest otherwise. While he has look good in stints as a starter, his stuff plays up in relief, and that ultimately may be his destination assuming the shoulder issues aren't serious. We also have to remember that John Means, even prior to the TJ has never made it through a full major league season without going on the IL for shoulder stuff. All of this is why this team needs to get a TOR to be paired with Grayson Rodrigues at the top of the rotation. Then you can fill the rest out with Bradish and Kremer and perhaps another solid starter from FA or a trade.

Truth, but we are entering a window here where to get to the next level, some money needs to be spent. I doubt that's going to happen if they are trying to maximize the value of the team.

I'm not even sure what you guys are arguing about any more. Fairly certain we all believe Mateo has played a great shortstop this year. Every defensive metric has him playin among the best. Saying that, I'm not sure how anyone can say he's the best overall or playing at a level above everyone else when none of the metrics show that. I also doubt anyone arguing this, including Palmer has watched all the other shortstops this year as much as they've watched Mateo. At the end of the day, Mateo has been fantastic defensively at shortstop. He very well could win the AL gold glove since the SSs above him are all National league in must defensive metrics. So, is Mateo playing shortstop at some level above all all MLB shortstops, no, none of the defensive metrics show that. Oh, and BTW, OAA may not be perfect yet, and there are things about I still don't understand when it comes to how it comes up with each play determination and score, but it is the only metric using data collected from the field on ball speed, player movement, and runner speed. In my mind it's the metric I would most likely use when determining how good a player is defensively. Saying that, it's still not perfect and the fact they refuse to give us reaction times and quickness information on infielders tells me some of the data is wonky. Can we all just agree that Mateo has played a marvelous shortstop this year and we've all enjoyed watching him play?

Its an interesting comparison: G Inn CH PO A DP E Rtot Rdrs Rtot/yr Rdrs/yr Swanson 150 1335.1 550 177 365 74 8 8 6 7 5 Mateo 136 1147.2 552 160 375 81 17 3 13 3 14 Despite around 188 less innings, Mateo's had more chances, 10 more assists, 7 more DPs but made 9 more errors. This tells me that Mateo probably has more range and a better arm and turns the DP better. The errors is what killed Mateo's OAA, but he clearly brings that exciting range play that Swanson and others probably can't make.

When you look at OAA for 1B, only former Orioles farmhand Christian Walker stands out. then there is group clumped together between 5 and 2 OAA with Mountcastle being at 2. Mountcastle is very good going to his glove side where he's been worth 3 OAA, but he's -1 going to his right towards 2B.

By the way, Mountcastle has a 2 OAA rating now making him tied for the 6th best defensive first baseman. I do not believe scooping and stretch out for a ball is taken into consideration into these ratings though. Looking around the major leagues, most teams have tall first baseman. But the Dodgers played a long time with 5-10 Steve Garvey at firstbase, so it can be done it's just not optimal. I honestly wonder if the Orioles or anyone else has done a study on the height of first baseman and how much scooping, stretching out for balls and collecting errant throws can be contributed to having a tall, long arm guy out there vs a short guy. Not even sure how you would do the stretch out and collecting errant throws and determining that the height and arm length would matter.

Playing just in the shortstops positions (meaning when he plays on the left side of second base, Mateo is ranked 5th in the majors league at SS with 7 OAA. He is however the top AL shortstop. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/outs_above_average?type=Fielder&startYear=2022&endYear=2022&split=no&team=&range=year&min=q&pos=&roles=64,62,60,61&viz=hide

Who said Hyde has no idea of his splits? I really have no idea why he was starting Aguliar at DH against lefties when Stowers had such great stats against them in the minors. But at the end of the day, Hyde has given him 1 PA against a lefty despite his success against them. I'm all about getting platoon differences, but he needs to understand that some guys have reverse platoon numbers and it's not always about the pitcher's platoon numbers. Now would I pinch hit Stowers against a left reliever who dominates lefthanders, probably not, but I would have zero issues starting him against lefty starters.

I think they used the IL with him for a bit of a reset. I'm not saying his should may not have been bothering him a bit, but he was on a run of some bad starts and I've seen them do this with players in the minors as well. They give them a break on the IL and then they come back a little different after some side work.

This team needs a real bopper in the lineup and 1B is usually a position where you can find one. Mountcastle is just never going to be a real high value guy because his on bae skills are bad and it's doubtful he's going to be better. But, to your question of the future. I've been in the Stowers bandwagon for a bit now and would like to see him tried first. Within the system, Westburg is a guy that could transition there but his value may be as trade bait since he can play on the left side of the infield. Kjerstad makes some sense as well if he can play ground balls. While he hasn't looked awful in the outfield, I think the Orioles will have much better defenders than him available IF his bat is good enough anyways. Other than that, nobody really stands out unless the Orioles decide 1B is the best option for Samual Basallo due to his size and the fact that Rutschman is going nowhere for awhile.

I'm not ready to give up on Hyde who does a lot of things well, but I really disagree with how he used Stowers early on and his refusal to let him face lefties which he's always hot quite well. Either way, it appears he's going to be playing pretty much regularly the rest of the year and that's a good thing. I believe in Stowers' bat more than some others. He's not going to be a high average guy, but he's going to walk a bi and he's going to put up some really good extra base hit numbers if given a chance to play everyday next year. I do have some questions about his defense overall because of the poor jump numbers so far and below average speed, so I still would like to see him take groundball at first base and see how he looks.

This is a very good point and why it won't be the end of he world if Hall is sent back down next year to start the year at Norfolk as a starter. Bradish went on the IL for an "injury" but amazingly came back refreshed with a focus on that slider and improved harder curve. It's a credit to him to rebuild himself a bit within the season.

Yeah, while I don't want to get too far off Bradish in his thread, it will be interesting to see how they handle Hall next year. I think you go into spring training with him as a starter and let him compete there. If it doesn't work out, they then have decide what his best role going forward. Does he help the team more by continually developing as a starter in AAA and be depth, or is he best off as another dominant left-handed reliever with Perez. But back to Bradish, unless he gets hurt or just bombs spring raining next year, I have to imagine he's in the rotation to start the year.