Sessh

Oh, I see. Good to know.

Akin did not record an out and was removed from the game after two batters. He was credited with 2ER allowed and two hits after being relieved by Tyler Herb who allowed two runs in five innings plus the two Akin left on base. All four runs scored in the first. Seems Akin may have left with an injury. Any news?

I said to the largest degree possible. I didn't say for the best player they have.

When trading Cashner, I would prefer quality over quantity to the largest degree possible even if it means only one player coming back in the deal.

He's looking pretty good right now. I didn't realize he was that far above some of the other candidates. There's still a lot of baseball to play, but he's certainly sitting pretty at the moment.

... and yes, I know in hindsight, one can sit here and say we should have never done it, but it was a risk worth taking. We got him for practically nothing. It was a lottery ticket which is what any acquisition would have been. Taking a flier on him was not a bad move. Anyway, agree to disagree. Lottery tickets are usually losers, but sometimes you can hit big. Right now, trying to hit the lottery is just what we're doing to some degree. It won't be like this in 3-4 years and if it is, something has gone terribly wrong.

No, it wasn't Rickard has struggles his whole career to keep his OPS above .700. He never had a season where he had an OPS+ of average or better and he never had a season where he put up even 1 WAR. Broxton did it twice (2.1 and 1.6) and had one season with a 107 OPS+ with a .784 OPS only three seasons ago as a rookie, then hit 20HR the next season. Saying he was a step down is just simply wrong. Even if it is a long shot, at least Broxton had something to potentially bounce back to and had far more impressive tools than Rickard. It was in no way a step down.

Wasn't my intent to be disingenuous, but you're making the argument that we never should have taken a chance on him at all and I don't see any basis for wasting another year on Rickard when we could be taking a flier on Broxton. Also, again, the point of this season is not winning games or putting together a strong team. Winning is not a priority. It's beneficial to this rebuild to NOT win right now, so while I agree that Broxton is bad and isn't working out, he is still helping us achieve our immediate goals. Any way you look at this, it's not bad for the Orioles. Rickard was definitely not a part of the future plans. Definitely. That's the only thing that matters and letting him go is part of us moving forward to new things some of which will not work out. Things not working out means we get a higher draft choice and that is the goal, not winning games or worrying about who is going to make things happen in the near term.

On this team this year, he's not hurting anything. The closer to another 1:1 we can get, the better IMO.

Rickard (849 AB) .245/.299/.372/.671 OPS+: 81 WAR: 1.2 Broxton (840 AB) .214/.300/.395/.695 OPS+: 82 WAR: 3.3 So, based on what? Almost the same amount of ABs. Broxton almost triple the WAR of Rickard and has better tools. That's probably Rickard's ceiling. If Broxton's contact tool is a little better, he's likely a starter. He's really one average tool away from it. Don't see your basis in saying that. Broxton has been better than Rickard in almost the same number of ABs. Anyway, don't get the love affair with Rickard. He wasn't good and couldn't have gotten much better. Broxton at least has potential in that area, but doesn't look like he will realize it due to his very poor contact tool. Broxton was completely worth the flier. Nothing at all wrong with trying.

Better choice for what though? Taking a chance on Broxton is more productive than sticking with a guy we KNOW for sure is not in the future plans. We had nothing to lose in taking a look at Broxton and not like we gave up anything of significance for him. We picked up Broxton because of his tools in the hope maybe he'd be a late bloomer. He was a low risk/high reward experiment which is exactly the kind of things we should be exploring right now. It didn't work out, but that's alright. Anyone you could get for $500K IBS is going to have red flags.

I might be interesting in keeping Martin if he can be a super utility guy, but not a starter. Plenty of guys won't be here. Broxton for sure.

The first thing an offensive player has to do for me to think they may have value to a major league club is to enter their first major slump and then bounce back out of it with another hot streak. Santander has done it. Nunez is doing it. Sisco is coming into his own offensively too. Severino has done it. If Alberto keeps showing he can maintain an average in the .300-.320 range, he may be around for awhile even without much power. There's several guys on the offensive side that may be here in a few years.

Love the pinch hit walk by Santander and the infield single to drive him in from third from Severino. Just the two guys I want to see continue to do well.

No, you shouldn't. Rickard had years to prove he could be a productive major league player. He didn't. He was a known quantity to us and was not part of the future. Broxton is just an experiment that hasn't worked out, but the bloom was off the rose with Rickard. No point in keeping him around. Broxton will follow his lead eventually.

I wouldn't be that surprised to see him go on a tear for a week or so when he's called up, but what will happen when pitchers realize they don't have to throw strikes to get him out? It's possible he could have a special ability to make contact when he swings like Vlad did, but even Guerrero had a decent K/BB ratio for his career and even had more walks than K's in several seasons. Lack of discipline/OBP plus below average defense sounds like the kind of thing we're trying to get away from. I'm not closing the door on him, but am also not optimistic. He could have that special bat, but I highly doubt it's .300/30HR special. Maybe 200+ strikeout special, though.

Without Broxton's help, too. Besides, we have to make good on those 13-0 wins now. We had our fun, but now it's time to pay the fiddler.

To be fair, that comment was made before Eshelman recovered from the first inning. A few posts up from that one, crow was eaten (his words) on that earlier comment. I think Eshelman's stuff is good enough so long as he can locate his pitches. I remember a scouting report or something on him saying his pitches have just enough movement to miss barrels and that's what was seen tonight after he settled down in the first. If he can find the same success he had in the minors (2018 aside), he might be ok. It's not like soft tossers can't be successful in the majors. Arroyo, Hendricks, Kuechel et al as well as the obvious guys and knucklers. It'll be tougher for him, but so long as he can command his stuff and the movement is enough, he's got a chance. We shall see.

Well, he was pulled with a low pitch count while pitching well and when one of the biggest assets he has shown in the minors is being able to pitch deep into games and gets yanked in the fifth with 75 pitches and needing only 10 pitches per to get through the last four innings. Maybe Hyde did think that and I guess we'll find out in the post game presser, but should have been allowed to at least try to get through the sixth and pull him at the first sign of trouble. Anyway, I'm out of gas on this. I'm just glad he pitched well.

I saw them. What were they in the first inning? Again, babying him now isn't logical. He's done it in the minors. He did it all season in 2017 and was doing it again this season. I'm sure he gave up line drives in those games as well. Let him try to make adjustments and get through it. He did it in the first inning and shut them down for the next four. It is justified though I'm not that upset, but babying him now does him no good. Let him show if he can do in the majors what he has shown in the minors.

Sure, but using one of the worst starts of the season at AAA to justify pulling him in this game isn't all that logical when you consider that he had gone 7+ innings in four of five starts prior to that one and at least six in all five of them. Obviously, he can get through a lineup more than twice and does so on a fairly consistent basis. Don't baby him now. He also threw over 95 pitches in five of the last six starts. So, I'm not sure how you can say he can't get through a lineup more than twice when he'd been doing that in most of his starts in AAA this season. I do blame Hyde for taking him out too early. He should have been allowed to at least try to get through the sixth. I am glad he pitched well at least.

That's true, but he wasn't laboring either and averaging about 10 pitches an inning after the first.

I don't think it's "pushing" when he's at 75 pitches and cruising. Kline is ready, so let Eshelman try to get through the sixth at least. If he gets into trouble, then go to the bullpen. Guy throws 6-7+ innings pretty consistently in the minors, so it's not pushing to me at all.

Yeah, I've seen him throw it well on occasion, but he can't be counted on to do that. With a fastball like he has, why not a change up or splitter? He's got to come up with something and maybe get that fastball moving at least a little bit.

It sure does, but at least Castro's fastball moves. Kline's is straight as an arrow.