Ohfan67

They have also always been pretty brave about trading good players while they still have a lot of value. To maintain long-term success I think the Orioles will have to do this.

To be honest, my view/opinion of Mountcastle is way more variable than for most other current and former Orioles. Part of it is the streakiness of his hitting, but a small part of it has something to do with his personality. He's kind of a goofball personality no matter how he's hitting, which sometimes I find admirable but sometimes I think I want him to look miserable and he doesn't! Regardless, it's pretty irrational on my part.

Adley hasn’t hit his weight in two weeks. He barely hit .100 in his last seven games. I think benching him or better yet sending him to Norfolk would send a strong message to the team that this crap is not going to be tolerated.

It’s weird how the opinion of Hyde is so totally disconnected from the results. His team is performing better than most of us predicted for the second season in a row (SSS this season) with a roster that still contains a bunch of cast offs playing key roles and yet some people want to fire him. Some fans aren’t happy with a win unless Hyde manages the way they want even though mostly what people seem to want is for Hyde to manage in an incredibly predictable style often advocated by play by play commentators.

But the Mets are paying for most of McCann. He didn’t really add much salary to the orioles.

Brace yourself for this: you were the one who said they were doing great. You referenced their performance. Are they doing great or not?

I like how you ignored the “great” comment you made when RZNJ called you out for being totally wrong. You’re really castrating yourself when you are wrong on the facts and then respond with more hot air.

Elias signed multiple 4A types (e.g., O'Hearn and Lester) and there's speculation in this thread and many others about Westburg, Kjerstad, Mayo, etc. I don't think Mountcastle is going to get replaced anytime soon (as in the next few months). They will give him a chance to have some good luck and they will let the minor leaguers get more at bats. Plus they have O'Hearn on the ML roster and available for a platoon if they decide that will help boost production at 1B.

Elias is not going to trade for a first baseman (and he should be fired if he does!). The options are in the minors or already on the ML team.

This is not a new attitude for Ryan. I can't find the original news story with Buck's quote, but here's a summary of Buck's comments in 2018's spring training: "Showalter decided it was a good time to plant a seed in Mountcastle’s mind after the youngster had a big 2017 season between High-A Frederick and Double-A Bowie. “I noticed last year that you only walked 17 times,” Showalter told Mountcastle, who chuckled. “Understand it’s not funny,” Showalter told him."

Ryan is very high on the “that was a crappy at bat” list. What metrics best capture the number/percentage of crappy at bats? I’m serious. i think in Ryan’s case, it is not totally straightforward. He seems to have a higher percentage of totally non-competitive looking at bats than more successful players. Walk rate is probably a stronger correlative with percent crappy at bats than most or maybe all of the other metrics?

I’m not sure if you know this or not, but that was a movie. And not a documentary. But seriously, a low BABIP is not all luck. One of the things that helps generate a low BABIP is making contact with pitcher’s pitches/bad pitches. Low BABIP is often correlated with high chase rates and low walk rates. As I mentioned earlier I root for Mountcastle and hope he succeeds. But he has a glaring hole in his game that is holding him back and he may not be able to fix it. And now there are talented players knocking on the door. If Ryan doesn’t perform better/fold some good luck, then he’s going to get replaced.

You don’t have to be a nerd to see that he swings at too many bad pitches. His problem is not bad luck, it’s poor swing decisions.

I root for Mountcastle but he’s a deeply frustrating player IMO. very fun when he’s got, but he drives me nuts most of the time. Mountcastle will have to better if he wants to be an oriole after this year. Kjerstad is going to be a major threat to his job pretty darn soon. by the way, Mountcastle’s OPS Has trended down every season since he was promoted. Not a good look.

Thanks guys. For a second I thought he had been ejected while playing third because he yelled about a missed call or similar.

Ok wait, it happened on Urias’ at bat. I was very confused.

I had to walk out of the room for a minute and missed the ejection. So did Urias go nuts or what? I dont understand how the third baseman gets ejected.

That was a fun article. Thanks for sharing.

And none of that pocket veto b.s.

Hall's performance has rarely matched his stuff throughout his disrupted minor league career. Hopefully he learns to command his stuff, but unfortunately he may not even develop into a decent reliever. (hoping this is a reverse jinx post) It would be very interesting to learn what the Orioles think is "wrong" with him. Are they using him as a starter to get him innings/experience but are really projecting him as a reliever or trade piece? Or do they really think they know how to fix Hall and help him blossom as a starter?

Pretty amazing for a second round Rule 5 pick! Elias and team have done a very good job of picking up useful pitchers for basically nothing.

I hear you...Shoeless Joe would probably not have participated in the fix if he made 700k per year. But it's going to be messy for baseball. This just happened in football today: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/five-nfl-players-suspended-for-violating-leagues-gambling-policy-including-lions-2022-first-round-pick/ People can be really dumb.

Two counter points: Rich people commit financial crimes all the time and a lot of pro athletes blow their money very quickly and are not rich for very long. I get your logic, but a lot of people do dumb things for illogical reasons. I'm not trying to really engage in the debate either way, but I just wanted to point out that increased salaries may reduce incentive for some people, but not everyone.

Exactly!

No kidding. That was really my point. There's a tremendous amount of angst about very small sample sizes in this thread. SSS is misleading for every player on the roster, not just the rookies or the players that fans want/expect to succeed. By the way, Santander has a career OBP of .299 in those 453 MLB games. Having a sucky year is well within the realistic possibilities for Santander.