24fps

His producer clearly lurks on Orioles Hangout.

I hate games where my primary focus is on trying to figure out where the strike zone is.

Wells wasn't paying attention. Every pitch was up. Mid-shin is where he needs to live.

Was just able to start watching and Abbot looks okay I guess, but a low strike tonight is six inches below the zone?

I think this is maybe a little generous, but otherwise representative of what it would take to get Snell/Hader. Some team will probably spend that much, but I hope it's not the Orioles especially if Hjerstad is necessary to get it done.

Today: 1B Santander 2B Westburg 3B Henderson SS Mateo With Urias getting plenty of playing time everywhere except SS. I'm willing to carry Mateo's bat as long as Frazier isn't in the lineup nor Mountcastle until he's fixed. As critical as I've been of Mateo, every time I see him in the field I'm blown away by how good he is with a glove. Last night is a case in point, but there have been many other times too. I'm not confident that any other in-house option will get that good any time soon and it seems pretty clear that Ortiz isn't going to get the opportunity to try.

The Viking hat is even stupider than the homer hose.

Does Salazar have any idea where home plate is?

HOFer Luis Aparicio and also DeCinces

Wow, what a beautiful play!

Great to see Mullins back.

Williamson looks even worse that Irvin.

Irvin wasn't getting the strike just called on Santander.

Okay, bottom of the first. Time for Westburg to get his first ML RBI.

Jeez. What a meatball from Irvin.

Fangraphs, when they wrote their prospect reports before the start of the season, had this to say: So Mayo in RF and Kjerstad at 1B? Or maybe vice versa. Whatever shakes out, I don't think 3B is his future so it will be interesting to see if they mover him elsewhere and where

He's had 11 stolen bases since the beginning of May - 5 in May and 6 in June so his running doesn't seem to be affected. I'd also like to know how many times he's been able to take an extra base by virtue of his speed, but with an OBP of .265 during that time, there haven't been many opportunities.

I wasn't even remotely suggesting that, just that the treatment Ortiz and Stowers (so far) raises a red flag. How large of one I couldn't say, but wouldn't it have been better to just leave them both in AAA where they've had some success and let other teams wonder if they can make the transition? If it has been determined that they have no future value in the majors, then it follows that their remaining value is as part a trade - don't step on that and while you're at it, get on with it.

Agreed. Additionally in underscoring that difference in status they're hardly enhancing the trade value for players on the wrong side of the calculus. Ortiz would have been better served staying in Norfolk IMO. Maybe the Orioles too.

Would you like to lead the cheer? We're number 3!, we're number 3!... Meanwhile, how 'bout that Coby Mayo, huh?

Fangraphs has Mateo at 0.7 WAR (-6.1 offense/5.6 defense) and Frazier at 0.0 WAR (-2.8 offense/-6.0 defense). Not stellar, except Mateo's acknowledged defensive skills have some utility. I don't see many people seriously advocating just dumping Frazier and Mateo. Nor am I, but the time has come to stop predicting dire things for the Orioles if those two start to see less playing time. Mateo clearly has some value on defense and on the basepaths. Frazier? You tell me, I'm stumped and praying for a trade.

I think so too. At this point he's probably absorbed enough wisdom from Frazier and Mateo to last him for awhile.

I know you're being sarcastic, but I wonder if there isn't some truth to your point even so. Cowser has the least minor league experience with 1591 total PA's but 359 of them at AAA. Interestingly, Ortiz has 2324 PA's with only 142 in AAA and he's up already. Westburg has advanced the quickest with 2286 total PA's of which 714 have been at Norfolk. I don't see anything in there that warrants much of a conclusion other than what. most of us consider as logic is not particularly compelling to Mike Elias. Westburg has cleared your bar yet he still languishes even though the two positions he's most suited for are the ones the O's most need to improve and that is certainly reason enough for most of us to be as impatient as we've become. Edit: As I was writing this, I see that a thread was started letting us know that Westburg has been called up. I will remain suspicious until it's clear that he's not going to be "Stowered", but I'll take this as genuine progress. Maybe 700 PA is the threshold after all.

Whining? At this point in the season it's virtually impossible to make a persuasive argument for continuing to play Mateo and Frazier every day. Who broke camp this season is about as relevant as Adam Frazier's veteranocity.

My theory is that Sig is the only guy who's successfully come up with a metric for both veteranocity and its corollary off-the-charts instincts.