Moose Milligan

Todd dickner at home can go eff himself

wtf that blown third strike call cost us a run

What’s with the stupid hat?

I want to like this lineup when I see the names but then I realize that half of these guys are cold and Stowers is a K machine.

Love seeing Julio Rodriguez struggle. This will be a very tough series, IMO. Would love to face a weaker pitching staff with the way our guys haven't been hitting the ball lately but hopefully they'll figure out a way to come around this series.

True. Kind of hard to remember what my thoughts were in the late 90s. I thought that guys like Rick Krivda, Rocky Coppinger, Curtis Goodwin and Alex Ochoa were going to be stars, I'm pretty sure.

Agreed. I like Urias overall and he's been great for this team. Like a lot of players, I think getting consistent at bats helps. He's not getting them now, which is understandable and that's hurting his cause. Still versatile in the field.

I'm still not quite sure what the expectations of a backup catcher are. IMO, McCann is pretty great when it comes to it...decent at defense, a good clubhouse guy and respected by his teammates. Can occasionally get into one and put it over the fence, but that's about it. Like, if you're a good catcher, you're probably starting somewhere and you're not stashed on someone's bench. I don't know if there's a significant backup out there who'd be significantly better. Salvy Perez's backup is Freddy Fermin. I don't know anything about Freddy Fermin, I'm guessing you probably don't either. He's got a .643 OPS this season, an 84 OPS+. He did hit well last year in 235 plate appearances, though. He'd probably be an upgrade from McCann but is it worth the hassle to try and trade for him? The Royals are respectable this year, why would they want to move him? He might be viewed as Perez's eventual replacement. Austin Barnes is hitting .200 for the Dodgers as Will Smith's backup and a .562 OPS. His career average is .218 with a .684 OPS Garrett Stubbs is hitting .114 as JT Realmuto's backup catcher, his career is .208 with a .597 OPS The immortal Chadwick Tromp is the backup catcher for Little D in Atlanta. He's hitting .194 with a .489 OPS and for his career he's hitting .215 with a .599 OPS. Tucker Barnhart is hitting .195 with a .584 OPS for the Diamondbacks behind Gabriel Moreno. So what in the name of Jeff Tackett are people expecting here? The backup catcher complaining has been one of the more puzzling things on this board for a number of years. Even if McCann was let go or traded, I don't think his replacement would be a significant upgrade...at least, not significant to stop people from complaining after they realize that McCann's replacement isn't that great, either.

I agree individual posters have favorite players. In regard to Cowser specifically, I think more...experienced posters on here realize that he's young and he needs some time to get out of his slump. But to your point, people like him and want to see him do well, too. He's a bit of a fan favorite already. I'm not sure what your points were on the rebuild but there were discussions about the right way/wrong way to go about doing it, when exactly people felt this team was ready to contend, what prospects to call up and when. I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone here who thinks Elias has done an overall bad job, but there have always been disagreements on roster decisions, signings, etc that might cross the line into the negative territory. I do believe I see where you're coming from on unrealistic expectations, sort of. Expectations are through the roof this year and no one wants to see a team like the San Diego Padres of recent years who, despite being loaded with talent, are not winners. I think there's still a lot of apprehension about knowing that this team is good after it's been bad for so long. Almost like a knee jerk reflex. But you are correct, we should be absolutely thrilled with being here right now. This is as promising as I can ever remember this team being.

Off the top of my head, it's hard to recall specific details. But I've seen posts on here about O'Hearn's underlying numbers and how he's not a mirage, for example.

Never claimed to be. Not much sense in a "great post, I agree" response, though. I think there's a fine line between being negative and criticism/second guessing moves that can be blurry at times. IMO, negativity is like "This team sucks," "We're dead," "this game is over, we can't win". Criticism is more along the lines of "Hyde did a terrible job of managing, here's why..." or "Elias shouldn't have made that move, instead he should have done..." In the middle, the blurry part is like "Mullins sucks, he's hitting .105 for his past 20 games and they need to put Cowser in CF for a bit." It comes across as harsh/negative cause someone is saying Mullins sucks but it's also stating why he does.

I agree with what a lot of @forphase1 wrote. I said it in the other thread, but I am disappointed with the overall approach at the plate with this offense and saying they've got the highest runs per game in the AL is like saying Colton Cowser is at an .831 OPS. It doesn't tell the entire story. If we're at the halfway mark and we're still at the highest runs per game in the AL, well then I think that's a little different. But I also think we've been conditioned over the years to complain. And let's face it, it's been a long time since any of us have seen continued winning baseball. It's hard to look at hindsight and be able to accurately remember what you were thinking in 2012 when the Orioles started winning without those memories being colored by good feelings. It's hard to remember exactly what you were thinking in, like, July of 2012. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of us were waiting for the other shoe to drop. But getting back to the whole "highest runs per game in the AL" bit, if you hear that you'd expect that team to be bludgeoning other teams to death and that's just not what's happened lately. Lately, it feels like they've pulled wins out of their asses and just gotten lucky. Adley walkoffs are exciting, but that's not a recipe for success and if you watched that game in its entirety, it didn't feel like a 107 win team and it hasn't felt that way during this drought of runs. Like I said, Colton Cowser has an .831 OPS but it sure doesn't feel like it. It's nice that the Orioles have the highest runs per game in the AL but it sure doesn't feel like it lately.

His post was sarcasm, I'm really not a big Jo Adell fan.

It's not awful, but it's also not stellar. That said, he's been the best starter we have for sure. They need to score some runs for him.

That's entirely fair. I do believe in K Rate.

I am.

If it's weird to have to defend a starter with a 2.68 ERA, imagine what it must be like to attack it.

I don't know if it works that way or not. He wasn't a 10 and 5 guy, it's not like he could have vetoed the trade. After he got here? Probably.

If he winds up at 190 innings, I'm not crying about it.

Well he was traded to us, I don't believe he had a say/so in the matter.

I'll take 200 innings of a 2.68 ERA for a season and a 1.000-ish Whip. Should win a lot of ballgames with that.

2.68 ERA and a 1.006 WHIP. Seems pretty good to me.

Well someone needs to show Hyde the batting order studies. I'd prefer to have Westy closer to the top to get him more at bats.

Booger sugar was all the craze back then, I have a feeling he indulged.