Pickles

Well, again, you're taking ABs from Hays, Santander, and McKenna to give to Cowser. I'm not ready to do that. 25% of the team DH ABs, if not more, are Adley's. When Urias is healthy, some of those will go to him and Gunnar. They like McCann to get some against lefties, and while that was not a popular move, he has shown himself well in those opportunities. If Hays becomes your primary RF, then Santander becomes a PT DH.

I don't disagree with any of that. However, I call him up when I have a role for him where he plays basically every day. So long as the O's top 4 OFers are healthy and playing as well as they are, I don't think that role exists. IF I thought he could perform better than those top 4, or felt more strongly that he could, that would be a motivating factor. But I don't believe that he can. I don't care if Vavra rots on the bench. I don't care if Stowser is riding the AAA shuttle. However, I do care if that's the case of Cowser, so while I belive he could perform Vavra's role better than Vavra is, it is not a role I want him in.

He got two weeks of consistent playing time. I would have gave him a few more weeks, but this team is trying to win now, and with Urias' injury, they prefer to have Ortiz on the roster. Fair enough.

You mean the Stowser Special? LOL. That was a fine catch Santader made. He's not graceful, and so it wasn't pretty, but that was not a case of him running around in a circle and diving into the wall at the last second. He also made two other nice plays that evening. As RZNJ pointed out, by your own preferred defensive metrics, he's considered above average. So how do you square that with calling his defense "crappy?"

I wanted the guy to get a longer leash, but he didn't force anybody's hands. With Urias out, then Ortiz makes more sense for the roster.

Claiming his defense has been crappy, when he just made the catch of the year to save Wells the other night, had another nice running catch in the game, and made a big play in the gap to hold the runner to first on the single allowed by Cano in the 8th, is likewise, not in touch with reality.

He knows. He's just arguing to argue.

The team with the second-best record in baseball, and a top 5 offense in the AL, doesn't have as many offensive holes as you seem to presume.

He isn't playing well because he's hitting .200 for his last four games? I really need to explain to you while that's a terrible argument? You know it is.

No, consistent at bats doesn't make you perform, but he's gotten pretty consistent at bats the last few weeks and has failed to perform, thus citing inconsistent opportunities for his failures is bad reasoning. I give him the next few weeks of playing most days and then I reevaluate. But if he continues like he is now, then yeah, he goes down. And THEN it makes sense to talk about bringing Cowser up, and figuring out exactly what that means for his and other's playing time.

Dude, why do you insist on making terrible arguments that you know are terrible? You're going to cherry pick Santader's last 4 games, then leap back to April to cherry pick some more stats, to argue he isn't playing well. The guy's got a 114 OPS+ for the season. You don't replace that with a rookie in the middle of a "pennant race." A "few games a week" could be 2-3 starts a week. Yeah, you don't take 30-40% of the guy's playing time and give it to a rookie and call it no big deal.

The rushing comment is in regards to Cowser. I want Stowers to get a longer leash. But it's not unlimited.

I'm not giving him 500 abs the way he's going. I'm giving him another 3 weeks of playing most days and evaluating then.

He's gotten pretty consistent playing time since he's been recalled. It's not fair to blame his struggles this year on sporadic playing time.

But those at-bats aren't really available until Hays, Santander, or McKenna start to struggle. They're all playing well. So Cowser either takes at-bats from Stowers or he takes them from vets who playing well, and responsible for the 2nd best record in baseball. There's no rush. Cowser isn't being hurt by spending more time in AAA. Stowers deserves a longer leash. And as long as the vets are playing well, and we are winning, they deserve to keep playing.

So you bury a guy that I was told was fairly low risk to be an everyday above average Of?

If you believe what many did about Stowers, that he's a solid corner defender, with 30 HR upside, who can hit both lefties and righties, then yeah, he deserves more than 30 abs.

But now that Stowers has gotten all of 30 abs, he's to be jettisoned and that's his chance, and now Cowser gets his chance? Presumably for more than 30 abs? Again, this is schizophrenic, and not how you develop players.

I'm not concerned about rushing him. I want to know if he's better than Hays or Santander right now. Everyone was very confident Stowers would be an upgrade. (Narrator: He wasn't.) Now after ten games he's to be jettisoned for the next prospect. This is not how you develop players.

Worth noting the competition was much more difficult this 10 game stretch.

I think they give it a month.

I certainly wouldn't send Gunnar down, and I would probably keep Stowers on the 26, but cut back on his playing time. As stated, he was sent down and immediately hit in Norfolk. He can hit in Norfolk; the question is can he hit in Baltimore?

Touche. Which, ironically, proves the point that it's a good idea to keep more than you think you'll need.

Sure, he's definitely limited defensively. No one could argue differently. But he's no butcher, and he's often referred to as one.

How about we use Mateo's Orioles career? He's got a .684 and 92 OPS+. You're also not factoring in that Ortiz is almost certainly not the defender, and certainly isn't the baserunner, that Mateo is. I, for one, don't think it's a coin flip at all. How many people thought it was a coin flip that Gunnar was better than Urias? So far, they'd have lost. Again, people are dramatically overestimating the adjustment difficulties and period that most rookies face. And cherry picking Mateo's last 10 games is a terrible argument against that.