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Gofannon

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Posts posted by Gofannon

  1. 12 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

    The Orioles' front office knows as well as anyone that performance across 44 sporadic at bats, including seven as a pinch hitter, is mostly random and borderline meaningless. His .649 career MLB OPS adds almost nothing to our body of knowledge of Heston Kjerstad.

    Cal Ripken started his career 12-for-99. But the O's knew he could play and stuck with him.

    David Newhan is the poster boy for how even a .690 OPS player can play out of his mind for a month, or the other way around.

    For long-time O's fans, Curtis Goodwin and Chito Martinez are on that poster as well.

    • Upvote 1
  2. 2 hours ago, OnlyOneOriole said:

    LOL Believe it or not I have lived a pretty varied life.  I have no reason to lie and am not just interwebs boasting.  In fact lots of times when I hear or see people that have not lived the life that I have I often wonder.....why?  It seems normal to me. 

    Because in no way shape or form do I think I am special.  In fact there are many athletes way more athletic than I am or many people who are smarter.

    Grew up playing sports all day every day from the time I walked out the crib.  Mainly because of my dad.  Loved the Colts and Orioles even though I grew up in MI. 

    Was a very good athlete but never 'great' in one single sport.  But could and still do play almost any sport there is very well.  All state tennis and baseball and all city bball.  (misspoke on the earlier post as far as all state bball)

    Got my BA and MBA in econ from MSU and did nothing with it.  Owned and trained race horses for 20 years.  Why?  Because I love horses. 

    Moved to CA 14 years ago. 

    Still golf to a scratch handicap and bowl in the regional PBA tour here on the west coast.   Also lift and work out 5 days a week. 

    As for a living I day trade stocks and am a public company consultant and have done that for 20 years now and then but very seriously the past 12 years or so since I moved to CA. 

     

    It really is nothing great or special.  I mean I own a multi million dollar house, 4 nice cars, have a great wife and daughter, but other than my daughter none of it really means anything. 

     

    • Haha 3
  3. 6 hours ago, Just Regular said:

    And you get to be in movies!

     

    Jeff Tackett was also part of the single-worst baserunning display I've seen in my entire life.  No exaggeration.  I was at the game with a friend who was at her first baseball game ever, and she asked me what was going on.  I still have no idea.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1993/04/18/three-man-jam-at-third-costs-the-orioles-7-5/7eb4c3d6-545f-481a-89f4-9bc0036ad89a/

  4. McCann as a backup catcher isn't terrible.  McCann as a backup catcher starting 17 out of 41 games is terrible.  Divide that number in half, get another right-handed DH option on the team, and let James McCann be for Gen Z what Jeff Tackett was for Gen X - if you see him in the lineup, then that means it's Sunday.

    • Upvote 1
  5. Hoping it is Stowers and Hays for Kjerstad and McKenna.  The past couple of weeks have made it apparent that Kjerstad won't get regular at-bats with the current roster, and I'd rather he play regularly at AAA.  He'll hopefully be Santander's replacement next year, but there's no point in having him sit and watch right now.  Stowers is a better fit as a depth piece/bench player.

    • Upvote 2
  6. I would be more confident that this is a slump if last year hadn't been a rough start, but I do believe he'll snap out of this.  I think the return of Hays will have him out of the lineup a bit.  I've been glad to see him in there so much despite his slump and appreciated his time in center in place of Mullins.  It's good to get a sense of what he brings out in the field as well.

    His bases loaded (0 for 8 with 5 strikeouts) and high leverage (1 for 20 with 0 walks/11 strikeouts) are certainly a weak spot so far, but they have to go up.

  7. The first game I attended with the new time/rules in April 2023, I walked in my door at 9:45.  The previous year, I was leaving a game in the top of the 6th inning at 9:30 because it was a work day.

    At that game last year, the game was over by 9:00 and the O's won, a team with a bright future ahead of them.  Between the quicker game, the earlier start time, and an exciting team, I legitimately felt like I had baseball back in my life more deeply than it had been in years.  I feel the same way this year.  What a gift.

     

    By the way, if anyone thinks that pitchers can't work this quick, watch two innings of Scott McGregor pitching in game 5 of the 1983 World Series.  I know he threw about 20 miles an hour slower than many of today's pitchers, but he would've laughed at a pitch clock.

  8. They are not going to make the big deal they made about his arrival, give out 15,000 t-shirts to fans with his picture on it, then send him down 9 days later because he looks completely lost.  It's just not going to happen.  Cowser and Stowers struggled last year and earned their demotion, but Holliday's the top-rated prospect in the game and is going to get more leeway before anything happens.

    I do think they'll start platooning him until he heats up, and if we reach May and he's 2 for 50, I would be shocked if they kept him up.  There will also be a difference between struggles on the West Coast when no one is watching and struggles at home against the Yankees.  That is where the rubber would meet the road, I think.

     

  9. Sounds like people think he's unlikely to start against Ragans today.  Are the O's at the point where they are platooning him?  If so, the rest of the road trip isn't going to tell us much, facing 3 out of 5 lefty starters.  At this point, if he isn't starting, he isn't coming into the game, since you would never pinch hit him or have him as a defensive replacement.

    If we are backing off on the lefty-lefty matchups, I could see Tony's May 1st date as the earliest he'd get to 50 at bats.

  10. 33 minutes ago, deward said:

    You can make a case for keeping Santander here on a 3-4 year deal, and trading Kjerstad for another asset. Not saying that's what they'll do, but I could understand it being considered as an option.

    Santander does not get a long-term deal from us with the talent in the pipeline.  Not only that, our long-term contract priorities are Adley/Gunnar/Holliday/GrayRod/Bradish/other young talent TBD, not Santander.  A 3 or 4 year contract would could create a logjam both roster-wise and financially.

  11. 30 minutes ago, ArtVanDelay said:

    It’s Freddy Peralta.  Milwaukee got rained out yesterday so Peralta is pitching tonight. 

    Thanks for the catch.  Then take what I said and move it to Saturday.  It's the Milkman Show tonight.

    • Upvote 1
  12. 3 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

    100% Kevin Brown was waiting to use that one. Great call by the way. Sometimes, even on his over excitement at times, Brown get it right on the mark and that was one of them.

    Kevin Brown wrote that one in January, but it was right on time last night.

  13. Austin Hays, at the very least, is a solid 4th outfielder on this team, able to play any outfield position, with a major league track record.  He's not going to hit below .100.  I hope he's in the lineup tonight... in place of O'Hearn.

    On a different note, Kevin Brown's "HOLY COWSER!!!" exclamation on the 10th inning shot is up there with Gary Thorne's "Trumbo BUMBOOOOOOOOO" among favorite home run calls of the last 10 years.

  14. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2002/05/26/batista-keeps-faith-and-quirks-with-os/

     

    What a quirky fellow - used to stagger around at 3B after the first pitch of every game to catch an imaginary pop-up from God.

    “If I believe in Jesus Christ more than the pitcher, I’m going to have a base hit,” he said. “If he believes more, he’s going to strike me out.”

     

    I always loved the quote referenced above.  I used to sit at games, watch him strike out and bat below .250, and think "Man, there sure are a lot of uber-religious pitchers facing Tony Bautista."

    • Haha 3
  15. 18 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

    Looks like the terrible names from the early 2000s are closing in on us. Can’t wait till the sports landscape is littered with guys named Kylan, Cannyn, Cadyn and one of those dudes is on a team that I gotta root for. 

    I mean, I've seen mock drafts suggesting my football team may draft a guy named Kool-Aid McKinstry, so it could be weirder.  Or are you saying in a couple of years he'd be named Kool-Ayd?

  16. 14 minutes ago, OnlyOneOriole said:

    100% this is my opinion as well.

    Moose asked me in the other thread to find people that are against bringing up the young birdlings in place of Mateo, Hays, Urias, and Kemp.  Well the proof is right in this thread. 

    My point is these defenders of guys like Hays and Mateo act as if these guys have hit major league pitching at an above or even average level for the past year and they need to 'come around'.

     

    Well?  No.  They have not.  They are just JAGS.  Even Mullins is at this point.  So why are they blocking the youngsters who actually are hitting now and who hit all spring training? 
     

    We all know why. $$$$$ reasons.  This team just wasted 2-3 potential wins that at the end of the year?  Very well may cost them gettng into the playoffs. 

    Hope that extra year of service time 5 years from now was worth a potential WS championship now.

    Can either you or DirtyBird say what you'd do with Mullins and Hays?  I am assuming you're releasing Urias and Mateo?

    I'm not arguing for the status quo, by the way.  I'm just wondering what the people who want to blow it up completely after a week and a half see as the moves to be made.

  17. Adam Frazier is the Kevin Bacon of the Hangout message board.  Regardless of the topic being discussed, you're never more than six steps (at most) from talking about ol' number 12.

    • Haha 2
  18. 13 hours ago, Frobby said:

    The O’s are 21-9 on Opening Day over the last 30 years,,and they’ve had a lot of great ones.  They’ve won by larger victory margins than today (twice by 10 runs).   They’ve had a number of Opening Day shutouts, including on the day Camden Yards opened.   They’ve had walk-off and extra inning wins.  

    But for me, I’m taking this one as the best Opening Day of them all:

    - David Rubenstein and his fellow owners struck every chord correctly, giving interviews, mingling with fans, buying rounds of beers at Pickles, etc.  they were pitch perfect and really set a tone for what we can expect going forward.

    - We spent 3 months looking for an ace, and Corbin Butnes looked every inch the part.   He was masterful and so fun to watch.   

    - And just generally, the team had great at bats all day and looked like a defending division champion ought to look.  

    My optimism meter is pretty much at 100 after today.  


     

    In your original post, you highlighted their record over the past 30 years on Opening Day, and if you're going over that time, yesterday was right up there with the three walk-off wins from 2016 to 2018 and the oddity of the snow game in 2003.

    If you're talking about the history of the team, 1992 tops yesterday in terms of what the day meant for the franchise and the city.  Truth be told, Peter Angelos hit every note at the home opener in 1992 as well.  50,000 people experiencing that ballpark for the first time can't be topped.  The game was great as well (and quick!).

    In terms of excitement, I'd take 1989 over yesterday as well.  They'd lost 12-0 on Opening Day 1988 to start their 21 game winless streak.  Some writers were predicting a no-hitter from Roger Clemens at the opener in '89.  Between the Ripken homer off of Clemens and the Worthington game-winner in extras, there was such a feeling of jubilation and relief leaving the stadium that day.  Nobody had any idea what a wonderful season it would lead to.
    Runner-up status also goes to 1982 (Ripken's first HR and a Murray grand slam) and often overlooked 1985 (snowed then as well, and Eddie hit a go-ahead homer in the bottom of the 8th after Charlie Hough no-hit us through six innings).

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