Pickles
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Posts posted by Pickles
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1 hour ago, DirtyBird said:
The ball was only hit 78 mph. It was a pretty clear error.
Clearly, exit velocity is hardly the only factor in the difficulty of making a play.
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8 minutes ago, RZNJ said:
Ball took more than one hop. Urias had time to square up and get in front of the ball but decided to backhand. Tough hop and he whiffed on it. Ball hit his leg and he still had time to throw the runner out but couldn’t pick it up. Not routine but a ML 3B is expected to make that play.
Might want to look at that again. Urias had no time to square up, and thus attempted to backhand the ball. It was a short hop, on a wet field, with an extremely fast runner.
Could he have made the play? Sure.
Should he have made the play? Not imo.
And to me that's the bar for assigning an error.
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13 minutes ago, RZNJ said:
Seriously?
Absolutely.
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I'd just like to go on the record here and say I think Urias' error in the first inning should not have been called an error.
That was an extremely difficult play.
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2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:
I didn’t see the 2 SB in the 9th inning. I know the one at third was being reviewed and was close.
But overall, we need Adley to throw better. He has a real bad throw on the Witt SB earlier in the game.
This is a game that deserves a detailed defensive write-up.
But got to be said, they're going to run all over Kimbrel. Everybody is. Just like Felix.
That's the trade-off.
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What moron put this lineup together?
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1 minute ago, Malike said:
Yeah, the bats are ready, the gloves, not so much.
LOL. And then Mayo just threw a wild ball to first and Kjerstad didn't even make an attempt on it.
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2 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:
There in lies why Kjerstad is not a serious option at 1B.
If he can't make that play, he's not an option in the OF either.
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5 minutes ago, Malike said:
Just air-mailed a soft toss from 2B. Work to be done on that side of the ball.
That was a bad play. Moving to the bag, he had a sloppy transfer, and then backflipped the ball over the SS's head.
Work to be done,
And as I was typing this, Kjerstad just dropped a throw from Holliday at 1b for an inexplicable error.
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1 minute ago, justD said:
There it is, the play that everyone will point to, to justify him still being in Norfolk.
And they won't be wrong. That's the kind of play that loses baseball games.
He has to work to do at 2nd base.
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1 minute ago, Frobby said:
Based on some of Rubenstein’s comments, I think you’re going to see some ticket giveaways to inner city kids (and maybe families) to try to build up the fan base within the city.
That's all well and good, and admirable, but what's far more important is winning the fans over from the DC suburbs who have disposable income.
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8 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:
Not likely they can get to 3M because of the Nats. They drew so much from down in that area that is no longer coming here.
If we're consistently better than the Nats, and Rubenstein can use his DC contacts to entice business/corporations back to O's games, I think it's doable.
But it's basically a best case scenario, and will require a lot of things to go right- starting with on the field.
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Just now, Can_of_corn said:
So 2013-2014 levels? Seems doable.
I wrote before last season, fully expecting the O's to be competitive and in the playoff race all season, that if they didn't get to 2 million fans I had long-term reservations if the fans would ever come back. They got to 1.9+, so that was close enough to assuage my concerns.
I fully expect them to get to 2.5 this year, or very close, which would give them the highest attendance since the Nats came to town. 2.5 gets them to about middle of the pack ML-wise.
If they can have long-term sustained success, I believe they could consistently draw 3 million a year, which would put them top 10 in the league.
That's what Rubenstein should be shooting for, imo.
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Just now, Can_of_corn said:
I would also expect local revenue to be up this year.
Attendance is going to increase 25% this year. Book it.
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Mateo will never start a game at DH.
He'd just play the field somewhere and they'd let somebody else DH.
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17 minutes ago, RZNJ said:
1. GRod. I’m eager to see how he looks tomorrow. So far, he looks like 1st half GRod and I said that after his 1st and 2nd start this spring. If he pitches like he did last April/May it’s going to be very disappointing and make it tougher to get off to a good start.
2. Cole Irvin. Bad start last year. Looked great his first time out. Scary his last two times. His excuses don’t make sense. He threw 94-95 with command his first start. Now, he says he’s dialing it back to have better command. Hmmm. If he and GRod get off like last year, again, tough to overcome.
3. Cionel Perez. They gave him a lot of rope last year. Most relievers looked good this spring. He did not. Without Felix we need a deep bullpen with no weak links. He’s scaring me.
Frankly, besides Cedric not being up to speed yet, I feel pretty comfortable with everything else.
With this club the questions are largely going to be on the pitching side. We should probably get used to that for the next few years.
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That's pretty significant news.
We'll see how long it holds up in the face of the inevitable and unforeseeable circumstances to come.
My initial reaction is that this means less playing time for Mateo than many anticipated.
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19 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:
I know if I had one position player to rely on in a late inning close game situation that I would not pick Mateo. I don't even think I'd pick him for a key stolen base, I'd be too worried he'd get himself picked off.
That's just bitter hating.
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1 hour ago, Frobby said:
The O’s come in 5th at SS at 4.5 fWAR, built on an assumption that Gunnar will start there 56% of the time, Holliday 25%, Mateo 18%, Maton 1%.
“These power rankings can get fun when there’s uncertainty about how the various teams will line up, but shortstop looks like an extremely stable position. Out of the top 17 teams on the list, I count two, maybe three, where there’s any uncertainty over who the starter will be. In Baltimore’s case, it’s not because of a lack of faith in Henderson, who’s the reigning AL Rookie of the Year. Nothing about that campaign (.255/.325/.489, 123 wRC+, 4.6 WAR) indicates anything other than a bright future at the position.
“The question is this: When Jackson Holliday gets worked into the lineup, where will he play? He could settle in a second base, which would give Baltimore one of the best double play combinations in the baseball for the rest of the 2020s, to say nothing of leading the league in luxuriant blond coiffure. Or the no. 1 prospect in baseball could displace Henderson to third and claim shortstop for himself. And spare a thought for poor Mateo, who put up 2.9 WAR himself just two seasons ago. He’ll be a heck of a backup.”
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2024-positional-power-rankings-shortstop/
Do you mean to tell me Mateo isn't a useless piece of garbage?
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1 minute ago, Tony-OH said:
Here's what I know. Mayo is a talented young man who is ready fore the major leagues. He's one of the top prospects in all of baseball and is 22-years old. Will it be the end of the world and he goes down to the minors for a month or so and plays some RF and 1B to open up more opportunities and gains the Orioles another year of control? Probably not.
Really what the Orioles need to decide right now is Holliday more ready for the majors than Mayo? Only one of them are making the team unless they can find a trade partner for Mountcastle (unlikely).
Westburg is going to start the season at either 3B (if Holliday makes the team) or 2B (if Mayo makes the team) unless something crazy happens.
The crazy scenarios include optioning either Mountcastle of Westburg for Mayo (Mayo has been playing a lot of 1B lately). I just can't imagine either Westburg or Mountcastle not making the team so I really think it depends on Mayo vs Holliday. Both look ready but Mayo is older and probably deserves the chance ahead of him.
Of course both might not make it so the Orioles can gain another year of control, but that seems like a worse case scenario.
I personally don't think either of them make it, but I wouldn't be bothered by any of the possible scenarios:
Neither make it. Fine by me.
Both make it. Fine by me.
One makes it; one doesn't. I'm cool with it.
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2 minutes ago, SteveA said:
Yeah, so a lefty starter on Opening Day. The board will melt down if 2 of [Mateo/Urias/McKenna/Nevin] are in the lineup to get RH bats in there at the expense of LH hitting prospects!
I said Mateo would be at SS on Opening Day, thinking the Angels would start a LHP, in a poll conducted months ago. I think I'll be right. And I think people will complain.
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2B. Orioles come in at 14. Here's the write-up. Holliday projected at 280 PA and 1.2 WAR.
Personally, I'd take the over on both pretty significantly.
SS projections have not been released; it will be interesting to see how much time at SS they project for Holliday.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2024-positional-power-rankings-second-base/
Ooh, shiny! The best prospect in baseball gets a lackluster projection, but as you can imagine, the error bars here are considerable. ZiPS and Steamer are understandably restrained in their guesses for rookies because plenty of them struggle in their first bite at the major league apple. Holliday certainly looks like a stud, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be a top hitter right away, even if his long-term prognosis is blindingly bright.
Luckily for the O’s, they have a nice contingency plan. Westburg might be too good of a hitter to profile as a utility infielder long-term, but in 2024, he’ll rotate between second and third depending on which of the team’s other precocious youngsters click immediately. We actually project second, third, and short to all be time-shares for the O’s, with Holliday, Westburg, and Gunnar Henderson shuttling around the three spots. Urías fits into the mix as well, though likely with the least playing time out of the four.
The top farm system in baseball could complicate matters; Coby Mayo needs somewhere to play too, and that might be third base. That puts a squeeze on second indirectly. In my mind, though, Westburg is a great bet for above-average production, and Holliday is going to get a full season of playing time even if he starts slow. It’s a tough puzzle to solve, but also a rewarding one; there aren’t many wrong answers here.
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As others have said, the bust rate on pitchers is too high to justify passing on a guy like Holliday.
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6 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:
It does..it’s just not the best team we can put out there but for service time reasons, it can work.
If service time weren't a thing, the roster would probably look differently.
They're more worried about putting the best team on the field in Sept. rather than April, rightfully so.
The Defense Thread, 2024
in Orioles Talk
Posted
He didn't have time to square up and thus attempted to backhand the ball.
Go watch the play. 79 MPH exit velocity at 85 feet is less than a 0.10th of a second.
I don't believe it should have been called an E, and the MASN crew said the same exact thing.