Brooks The Great

It also comes back to McKenna's dropped ball against Boston, which is one of the reasons McKenna should have been DFA'd the following day.

First of all, there was absolutely no reason to rest Hays tonight, or any game this series, unless he's banged up. Which we can only conclude that he's not at the moment, especially since he pinch hit for Kjerstad. But to answer your question, Kjerstad can play LF whenever Hays needs to sit. I'd also take it a step further and release Hicks, call Cowser back up, and have Cowser play LF since he's a better defensive OF than Kjerstad (but I'd take both players over Hicks both defensively and offensively).

The OPS is a mirage based on an a fluky, lucky, and usustainable .342 BABIP coming into today. Hicks has a career .273 BABIP. Hicks is a garbage defender in the outfield. If Hicks is one move you're not going to criticize, you should take a deeper look into player performance and pay much closer attention to defense. Because if you were paying attention to any of that, you would criticize how Hyde and Elias have handled Hicks. Starting Hicks over Hays tonight - in the biggest game of the year - was a preposterous lineup move. But that doesn't change the fact Hicks is a mediocre baseball player who isn't good enough to justify starting for a winning team.

Trust me, I know. I've been criticizing Hicks more than almost anyone else on this board. Really bad look for Elias and Hyde to not recognize how bad of a ballplayer he is both offensively and defensively (especially defensively, which is more obvious and damaging to the team), and to fail to distinguish beteween a bad player on a lucky hot streak - what Hicks is - and a player who shouldn't be getting regular playing time.

Flaherty honestly seems like a headcase. I don't think he'd want to pitch out of the pen. Right move is to release him. Lots of St. Louis fans hated Flaherty and his attitude, and I can see why after watching his post-game interviews and the odd break he took from the rotation when he didn't "recover" well from a start last month.

Flaherty has to be DFA'd at this point. He's been awful and puts our bullpen at risk. Terrible decision by Hyde and Elias to start him in such an important game.

Hicks is a washed outfielder. Really disappointed in Elias for not recognizing how much of a liability he is.

It would have been Cowser had Hyde and Elias not sabatoged Cowser by not playing him every day and letting him work through his initial adustment period. Right now, moving Mullins up to leadoff is a reasonable solution. No one in the entire organization has as much experience leading off as Mullins does. Simply switching Adley's and Ced's spots in the lineup would be a nice way to change things up without disrupting the rest of the lineup. Although disrupting the rest of the lineup may not be a bad thing considering how the whole lineup has looked the past few days.

I thought Means looked very good tonight, especially considering it was his first start back. The top of the 2nd inning tonight was a good bit of bad luck. Him hitting 93 regularly is a good sign. The Cardinals lineup is quality. Jordan Walker is going to be a great major league hitter, and he was hitting 8th tonight. I simply don't trust Flaherty and Gibson with the way they've both been pitching the past 2 months. And the bullpen isn't going to be able to hold up with a 6-man rotation with those 2 guys pitching as poorly as they have been, mixed in with whenever Kremer and Grayson can't go deep into games. It would be huge for this team if Means could replace Flaherty and go back to a 5-man rotation, with Irvin and Gibson competing for the 5th spot. Maybe make the 5th spot completely matchup-based, and start Irvin against lineups with more left-handed hitters.

Jordan Westburg needs to be playing every day once he's over the undisclosed injury he has. Upgrading over Frazier and reducing at bats for Mateo and Urias is going to make this team better in the playoffs.

I'm a huge Bowman 1st collector as well! Wish Basallo's 1st card had been released last year or earlier this year - I would have been able to pick up a lot more of his 1sts for way cheaper than they'll be!

Webb should have been used in the spot that Hyde went to Lopez. Doing so may have prevented the game from going into extras, although of course it's not certain. I think it was a really poor move to use Lopez in a high leverage situation, and I question Elias bringing Lopez back at all if it's going to put Hyde in situations like last night. This is a playoff run. Bringing Lopez back as a reclamation project would have made sense in 2021, but not this season.

Using Lopez tonight in that spot was terrible. This is another example of Hyde relying on short sample sizes (like he's done with Hicks) and sentimentality over performance and talent. Lopez has been awful all season. He's not the same guy that he was for the Orioles last season, and his previous clean inning doesn't mean that he's a reliable option in a high leverage situation.

Meet me at a game at Oriole Park and we can have an adult discussion. I'll buy you a beer. Otherwise, quit trolling and adding nothing of substance.

No, I'm critcizing the specific decisions which I believe will ultimately cost the team a couple of games in the standings. Games which could make the difference between winning the division and only getting a wild card. Just because I think Elias and Hyde are making these particular mistakes does not mean I'm lumping all of their decisions together. Especially not as it pertains to Elias, who obviously is the architect of this team. I shouldn't need to clarify that, but your question is standard OH argumentation. But I'll clarify nevertheless.

Troll harder. Congratulations on being the worst poster on OH.

Yeah and I'd say that Cowser and Westsburg would both be better right now had they been given time and every day at bats to acclimate themselves. Just like Gunnar and Adley struggled early in their careers and eventually their talent won out. Gunnar and Adley got the benefit of playing time, and even though Cowser and Westburg aren't on their level as prospects, they have the talent and potential to be WAY better than guys like Hicks, McKenna, and Frazier. And I think Westburg would be and will be better than Urias as well.

It's still stupid to use a player with the production and talent level Hicks offers. And I don't want to hear about the Orioles being in first place, it's the process and decision-making that matters. Put your most talented team on the field and maximize wins. They're not doing that by keeping Hicks and starting him. The Orioles coudl easily lose the division by a game or two to the Rays. Decisions like this eventually add up and hurt the team, even if Hicks goes 3-3 today with a home run. This is shameful management by Elias and Hyde. The team wins despite their decisions because the team has so much talent. But that's not an excuse for poor decisions like this.

Batting Hicks 6th and treating him like some sort of All-Star that the team has been missing is absolutely outrageous. Elias is a great GM, but keeping scrub players on the roster for way too long is a weakness of his. It's crazy how many opportunities he gave to Austin Voth, and keeping Odor on the roster all season last year was the most negligent thing he's done as O's GM. Can't stand Cowser and Westburg not being given playing time in favor of players that aren't very productive. Hicks has an OPS+ of 95 for the season, it's pathetic to utilize him as anything other than bench depth. He belongs on waivers.

Exactly. I don't understand why Elias and Hyde overvalue mediocre veterans so much. Hicks, Odor, Frazier, Voth, and now even Jorge Lopez. They give them so much playing time and such a long leash despite a lack of production to justify doing so. I've posted this multiple times now, but Hicks has a long and clearly established track record of being a replacement-level player at best. He's also injury prone. Elias was fortunate to get a hot streak out of Hicks when we needed it with Mullins out, but now Elias and Hyde are treating Hicks as some sort of proven commodity. The only thing Hicks has proven over a long career is that he's not very good anymore. Hicks was so bad earlier this season (and last season) that the Yankees released him to play for the Orioles on the Yankees' dime. And before Hicks went down twice to the same injury, he started showing a lot of the shortcomings - poor fielding and scant production at the plate - that led to the Yankees releasing him. The smart move would have been to simply release Hicks and give Cowser some more playing time, especially with Hays banged up and Mountcastle possibly missing more time. Cowser has a long future ahead of him with this team, and he has the talent to help the team not only in September, but also in the playoffs. Keeping Hicks and demoting Cowser is bad roster management and poor player development.

It might just be that the organization is really trying to limit his innings, even though Elias has stated publicly that none of the pitchers are on innings limits. Maybe he'll get one more minors appearance as a tune-up and then come up. Or yeah, maybe he's hurt.

Westburg can/will get better with more regular playing time - he hasn't been given the opportunity to play everyday, and he actually hit RHP well in the minors, so platooning him is poor player development on multiple levels. Not benching Frazier and releasing Mateo sooner is going to hurt the team's efficiency moving forward, especially in the playoffs. Westburg is more talented than either player and should be given the opportunity to provide superior production to both/either mediocre infielders.

Starting McKenna against a righty and benching Westburg yet again are such terrible lineup decisions. Hate how Hyde screws over young players not named Adley or Gunnar. Westburg in particular is the best option for the team to win now, and guys like Frazier, Mateo, and Urias either won't be on the team next season (Frazier, maybe Mateo) or will be strictly bench players (Urias, Mateo if he is still on the team). Westburg is a winner and will be one of the core players of our playoff teams. It's shameful to platoon him like this.

Another dong tonight. I like his chances of improving on his K rate next season with organization's analytics and ability to develop hitters.

Boring ass Frazier is literally the very last guy I would want to hear anything from during a game. They should have just brought back Mike Bordick and made him a guest mic'd up coach.