Jagwar

Ah... I stand corrected in that part. Still don't think Willard should stay.

I'm skeptical O'Hearn will repeat his offensive production. I'm pretty confident he's the best backup 1B defensively among all of the players mentioned.

Fair enough

Because he's RH and can play plus defense at three OF positions?

I really can't see Willard having much time left for Maryland. He just doesn't appear to be the recruiter that the program needs. This season has been a disaster, and there really is no help on the way. I can't imagine that Derrick Queen wants anything to do with this team. Why is it that Maryland can't seem to find a good coach who is also a good recruiter?

I think I trust O'Hearn's 70 games/519 innings at 1B in 2023 a lot more than Santander's 12 games/72 innings.

I think we are saying the same thing? I want to figure out how to get Kjerstad and Mayo rolling, but not at the expense of the overall team defense

And isn't that OK? I'm not a stathead by any means. But I would think that it isn't a stretch to say that O'Hearn is likely to provide better defense at 1B than Santander, Kjerstad or Mayo. Don't you think?

A simple glance at Baseball Reference would have clarified "adequate" for you. He didn't kick around the diamond. Only 2 errors in 499 chances at 1B.

At least he played adequate defense, at least as far as this non stathead can tell. And if O'hearn falters you go to plan B (Santander, Kjerstad, Mayo).

You do realize that they are already trusting Mountcastle to be the primary, a player who missed significant time last year from a bout with Vertigo, and they're probably not sure what even caused it. So... the O's are going to go into a year in which they want to take the next step towards a title, and they would have the backup 1B as either a RF who has played 12 games at 1B, a 3B who hasn't even cracked the majors, and a OF prospect who has never played the position? Sounds perfectly fine to me.

No I don't. He's an emergency option.

Other than the fact that O'Hearn can adequately back up Mountcastle at 1B?

And that jump throw! Oh my!

Just wait until the opening day bench is McCann, Urias, Mateo and McKenna

But... perhaps it "doesn't matter" what your opinion is...

I'm guessing that at the very least he has to get in line behind Adley, Gunnar and Jackson

Actually, it does matter to me, because that's my own sentiment regarding the plan. But of course, Elias & Co doesn't give a phat what I think when formulating his plan.

Unfortunately that plan potentially weakens the outfield defense. I'm not sold that Mateo can backup Mullins or any other outfield spot. And his .607 OPS just magnifies the weakness IMO. I just can't be enthusiastic about a plan that involves Mateo as a backup CF and Kjerstad as a backup LF in front of Walltimore.

That means they only carry 4 outfielders, And McKenna and one of Cowser/Kjerstad are out. Your 5 + Mountcastle + O'Hearn + Rutschman + McCann + Hays + Mullins + Santander + 1 OF = 13 position players

If Urias and Mateo are still on the roster on opening day, I can't see how Mayo or Holliday make the team out of spring training.

Good. Keep him out of the AL East.

Nice easy stroke. Might have made it into the corner of the bullpen at the Yard.

At the time, in the moment, we would have loved picking up Verlander at the deadline.

How great would it be if EBJ developed even a little power, say up to the .425-.435 level