Pheasants

The purpose of walks is to get a good OBP. His OBP at present would be second on the Orioles if he did the same in the majors. Beyond that I have twice asked and never received an answer: Is Mountcastle expanding the strikezone and swinging at bad pitches, and thus pitchers know they don't have to throw strikes? Or is he swinging at every strike he sees and thus should be a bit more judicious about what he is likely to hit hard? The former will cause a huge problem; the latter only against pitchers like Wells. Or can he not catch up to fastballs or not hit sliders? In those cases, I don't see how his average could be as high as it is because pitchers would know what to throw at him. I'd like to see some analysis of why he doesn't walk much. If he knows the strikezone, I'm not worried.

On deadline day I was thinking it was a perfect time to sell Wojo high--2 great starts in a row; just convince someone he had found the magic touch. Too bad we didn't.

Maybe they simply had to find a place for Stewart? The biggest problem with making Mountcastle an outfielder is that they have other prospects out there. If Hayes, Diaz, Stewart, McKenna all hit their top projections, outfield is already crowded, and I don't think they can, at present, throw anyone away to look at Mountcastle. It is possible that next year, after checking their inventory by evaluating everyone all this year, they can toss Mullins and Stewart into the recycle bin, but for now they are still evaluating.

If he goes up it means sitting Williams, Hayes or Stewart. To me, that is Stewart, but are we ready to declare him a non-prospect? Of course, we could run a rotating DH.

I saw Mountcastle last Friday. In that game, he was a patient hitter at the plate. He struck out looking on a 3-2 pitch that looked low and inside to me. (The ump really liked low, off-the-corner looking pitches all night so if he'd been watching the ump, not the plate, he should have swung. Hayes struck out looking twice.) He went to 3-1 in another at bat. I don't remember him swinging at an obvious ball all night. Perhaps he should not swing at some strikes to avoid ground balls. Other comments from the game: Hayes has a great arm. Stewart looked worse than I expected in the outfield, slow. Sucre, however, made Stewart look fast as a runner. I've now seen two Norfolk games (The other I was too far away to judge batting.); Sucre is pure molasses going to first and does not seem able to reach back for an extra gear on what should be a close play. I hope never to see him in Baltimore again.

Three innings every 6 no, but they may increase the frequency. I look at the number of pitchers who are normally going 5 or 6 innings as starters or piggy backing with someone and going 4 each and I wonder if that could be the future. Have 10 guys at Baltimore who can pitch 5 innings well and continually piggy back them. Almost never have to worry about the third time through the lineup. They can all air it out a bit more. Let starters go beyond 5 only if they are really dominating like Baumann or Hanifee the last times. Any of them can start and any can relieve, if they are even enough. Match the pitchers up so a finesse guy piggy backs with a power pitcher. In AAA, even Straily has shown the ability to do three clean before he runs out of wind. Ynoa might be workable if he got consistent. Then you could have a pitcher to clean things up if someone falters.

I saw Hayes' speed Thursday at Durham. He took off for second on a 3-2 pitch and did a full slide. The catcher threw despite it being ball four, but neither infielder covered the bag. Hayes got up, didn't even slow at third and made it home easily before the ball came in.

I think this says Stewart and Hayes are up with Stewart still on rehab so he has to go to Baltimore soon. Mullins needs to play every day, so find him a place. When Stewart goes up, Mullins goes back. So I think its just practical. Now if McKenna gets promoted to replace Stewart, then Mullins has slid.

By pitcher's pitches do you mean balls or well-pitched strikes? I asked in another thread whether he chased a lot and didn't get an answer. To me chasing is more of a problem than if he just swings at every strike.

But that approach won't give him much power, so I expect to read soon (on here) that he'll never be a regular with the Orioles.

Question: Do we know how often he swings at bad pitches? Could the lack of walks be due to him making contact earlier in the count or striking out on pitches in the zone? I've never seen an analysis of why he has so few walks, just an assumption that he chases.

Let's see; I list 9 things which are independent of position, and you only care about war?

I saw one game that there was very little difference in speed between any of his pitches.

I like the statement used by one of our announcers and later by Hyde. This is an inventory year.

I doubt if Yahn is 5' 11". I only saw one game and didn't get to stand beside any of them, but I felt Yahn Moesquit, Miller, Gudino and Hall were all at or below my 5' 10." I kept looking because I was surprised, especially by Hall, who was in the first bbase coaches box and Zack Jarrett looked more than 4 inches taller (listed at 6'4." Of course, if Height determined quality, Dietz would be leading the team.

I don't know if someone will back up the Brinks truck or not, but I think his defense makes people underestimate his offense. Baseball Reference (I assumed it was up to date) lists Mancini as 1st in Total Bases, 2nd in Extra Base Hits, 5th in Batting Average and Runs Created, 6th in Runs scores and Adjusted OPS Plus, 8th in slugging and adjusted batting wins and 9th in OPS. (All AL) If a team needs a DH or 1B, why wouldn't they want him? Offensively he's at 2.1 war. Please note the above includes both counting stats and averages and items like BA which get sneered at. No apologies.

I think the quantity v quality argument needs to include a third dimension--minor league level. We could possibly pick up a few high ceiling players from lower levels. Higher chance of failure, but chance to hit on someone better than a mediocre AA player.

I suggest you read E. A. R's Miniver Cheevy and then find Miniver Cheevy Jr by some parodist. You can follow with The Decline of the West, written just after World War I. Every generation for at least the last hundred years has proclaimed the coming death of civilization. Someday it will come true, but when?

Is he a preview of Wells and Lowther--a command dependent pitcher?

During the double header with the Yankees, I heard their announcers say Thorne denied that this was a rebuilding year. He called it an inventory year. Elias and co. want to see what they have. So far it looks like that to me. They seem to be bringing up people like Wilkerson instead of guys who look like the future in order to see if there is any reason to keep them. Villar plays short, which few expected, instead of just second to see if he can handle it, perhaps as the future utility man. Hess, Ynoa, Ramirez pitch instead of Akin. Minor leaguers don't get promoted to the next level unless they are considered old for their level. McCoy, a 400 hitting ss at Frederick is old; McCoy, a 400 hitting ss at Bowie is a prospect. That Hall was not promoted to replace him at Frederick I think backs this up.

I really get tired of the need for power idea. If he hits over .300 with walks and stolen bases in the majors as a lead off hitter, does he need power? With age and filling out, he'll probably get some without trying. It would not surprise me if McKenna's poor start is due to attempts to change his swing to give him more power. The Orioles could once again destroy what works.

My opinion, no data, is that Larry Bigbie was severely hurt. He kept trying to show he was a power hitter and failing at Norfolk. I wonder if it led to his steroid use.

Maybe he should look into ADHD medicine if the problem is ability on some days to focus.

The consecutive does not fit, but Seattle this year has 6 saves from 5 different pitchers.

I would hate to see a starting outfield made up of a good centerfielder who may be better in a platoon ( I don't know but some on here say so), a fourth outfielder and a utility player. Doing that in order to run a platoon at third and have a declining SS? Doesn't make sense.