Alasdaire
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Posts posted by Alasdaire
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3 hours ago, dystopia said:
Why the secrecy? What is possibly gained by that?
On the contrary, what could possibly be gained by being fully transparent?
Telegraphing the exact reality of your situation can only help other teams. And committing to a timetable is just setting yourself up for failure with fans/media.
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We bear Frazier's cross so that he can hit righties in high leverage situations like that. Color me unimpressed.
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Just now, Aristotelian said:
Most guys don't throw him out coming in from the outfield. To throw him out on a ball going back is incredible
Agreed. Interesting to compare that play to the one against the Rockies. No harm in giving it your best shot tonight, but not the same risk/reward in the other game.
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On CORBIN FREAKING CARROLL too. Legitimately one of the fastest guys in baseball. As fast as Mateo. Incredible.
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19 hours ago, DirtyBird said:
Downvote him
This is like a guy trying to start the wave at OPACY and no one doing it with him.
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Just now, CynBeth said:
I just love Tony and Q in interviews.
Yeah! This team is so likable that even the translator is part of the crew. Special season no matter what happens the rest of the way.
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There's just too much to rework with Fuji for him to be viable this season. He seems like a really nice person and there's some magic in that arm, but he's a complete mess out there and has been all year.
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Did you guys know Shintaro Fujinami throws 103 MPH?! Once he puts it together, look out! Electric pitcher!
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So many people make way excuses for Fuji, including the booth right now. It's almost September. At a certain point, he is who he is.
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Guys being dudes.
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Austin "Crash Test Dummy" Hays. Guy just craves contact.
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I'm sorry, but this seems completely unnecessary.
Three run lead at home with a guy dealing on the mound and one out to finish the inning against a bad team and you pull him to put in the rookie who has the most innings out of the bullpen this year and has just been elevated to closer and make him pitch then sit then pitch again?
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I don't know the business/baseball operations side of things, but I definitely think Frederick was a better location for an O's affiliate than Aberdeen from the perspective of having a foot in the DMV and competing for fans with the Nats.
Growing up in MoCo, going to Frederick for Keys games was an easy and accessible way to experience professional baseball that strengthened my connection to the O's. No one from DC is going to Aberdeen.
Maybe the O's thought they preserved that presence with an affiliate in Bowie. But in all honestly, I don't think the edge of PG County really captures the MoCo/NoVa crowds.
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Just now, justD said:
I recognize him but from a completely different, um, focus of my attention.
The socks, right?
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Urias makes it look so effortless. Coolest cat on the field.
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I don't know if win probability can account for this, but Yennier is an extreme ground ball pitcher at 58.2%. With him on the mound specifically, I don't think the runner reaching first hurts your chances as much as it would with other pitchers since the double play is a high-probability outcome.
The worst-case scenario there is wiping out the possibility of a double play and actually putting the runner in a position where a ground ball advances him to third with one out so that he can score on yet another ground ball.
Maybe I'm being too exacting, but shortstops are like quarterbacks. They're involved in so many plays that they have to be aware of all of the different permutations. I admit that I've thought it might be best to stick Gunnar at third at least for this season because it shrinks his responsibilities and lets him focus on charging balls and whipping it across the diamond.
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3 hours ago, Aristotelian said:
No one is disputing that was an awful play. The question is whether Gunnar has made enough of those to justify moving him off SS. As another data point, JJ averaged about 8.5 errors/year for us. Some other playoff team SS, 2023 and career high:
Seager 6 (career high 18)
Pena 12 (19)
Bichette 8 (24)
Franco 9 (9)
Arcia 7 (20)
Crawford 14 (14)
Turner 14 (16)
Adames 12 (17)
Rojas 6 (11)
Tons of noise there but Gunnar is in the range where we want him to be. I do think he has a tendency to airmail his throws and that's something he needs to work on. Other than that he is playing the position at a high level.
Gunnar isn't even in the top 30 shortstops in the MLB by total chances at shortstop. He has 182 there compared to 310 for Seager, 470 for Pena, 324 for Bichette, 416 for Arcia etc. And most shortstops get far more chances than most third basemen plus the higher degree of difficulty. So if despite all of that Gunnar still has more raw errors than some of those guys, it doesn't exactly reflect well on him.
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4 hours ago, Aristotelian said:
Frazier is a fine LHB off the bench and occasional 2B. He and Westburg have been nearly equal offensively, at least vs RHP. He can pinch hit for McCann, McKenna, and Mateo when they start vs LHP, and can start in a utility role in any position when we need a guy to rest or DH.
I don't really see any alternatives bringing more value than that. Cowser arguably has a better bat, but we haven't seen it yet and he can't play infield. Same with Kjerstad. Ortiz hits from the wrong side to pinch hit for McCann/Mateo/McKenna and isn't good enough to pinch hit for any of our lefties.
I'm not sure what you are arguing about today's game. Frazier had a good AB and hit a 100+ MPH rocket off a tough pitcher, exactly what you want him to do. He was not the problem today.
This is probably the best case for Frazier. I still don't think that's enough for him to keep a spot if it's between him and Joey or him and Mateo, but as the pinch hitter for three backups and as a below-average infielder in the event of injury is the argument for him I suppose.
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To be clear, I didn't say that Gunnar should be moved off of short. I asked what Hyde thinks about Gunnar at short. Especially after today when the worst-case scenario occurred.
Why has Mateo not only remained in Baltimore but also continued to get starts? Gunnar is in the lineup every single day, but he's not at short every day. Doesn't that imply Hyde has questions about Gunnar's defense? Baseball managers tend to be the types who value experience much more than those of us who post here.
As to people saying that all players make errors, there are errors and then there are errors. This error reflected on Gunnar's inexperience. It simply isn't worth risking a throw with that degree of difficulty given the situation (one-run game with a ground ball pitcher on the mound). It wasn't simply that he let a grounder go through his legs or dropped a line drive; he set himself up for failure with the route he took to the ball and then compounded the mistake by making a low-probability throw. I don't think Mateo (or most veterans; please don't pigeonhole all of your angst about Jorge on me) makes an error that looks so ridiculous. Again, the sort of things that managers care about.
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Just now, eddie83 said:
Why? This is illogical. Ortiz is still an option.
It goes back to a few weeks ago when people were clamoring for Mateo to be jettisoned. I've always felt Frazier should go first as between the two of them. Maybe that's a false choice and they can both stay. But even then, what is Frazier here for? I've asked before and am still genuinely wondering. I was told it's to hit RHP. Just reviving that question given that we saw it today in a good test case scenario.
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3 minutes ago, Frobby said:
What is the debate here? I think the playoff roster for the position players will be exactly what we have now, except maybe Hicks will take McKenna’s spot if he’s healthy. Hyde isn’t going to dump the guys who’ve contributed all year.
It might be a moot point now, but Ortiz should have been brought up and Frazier (not Mateo) sent down/released/whatever some time ago. Frazier has no raison detre.
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22 minutes ago, Frobby said:
10 errors is not a lot. He’s played excellent defense the last several months. He made an error today, it happens.
10 errors isn't a little either.
All due respect, but I think if you brush the error that Gunnar made today under the rug as just another play in a 162 game season, you're too detached from the reality of in-game situations. That play directly led to the Orioles losing the game in a way that was preventable. I don't see it as just another data point, and I highly doubt the managers/players do either.
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8 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:
This has been the issue with keeping him. You may never have the situation come up that makes sense.
People like to dismiss Mateo's skills as very niche, but the fastest guy on the team and the only alternative to a rookie at SS seem like more defined roles than a guy who is kind of okay against righties and bad at everything else.
3 minutes ago, eddie83 said:Are you letting Urias hit off a tough RHP? Or maybe Westburg depending?
Ramon actually hits righties much better than he does lefties. And Ramon has a higher 2023 and career average and OPS against righties than Frazier. So absolutely.
Westburg is a tougher call simply because he's a rookie and you want a good at bat in a pressure situation in the playoffs. But when you take a step back, it's kind of insane to hope that Frazier is going to tap into power more than Westburg.
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6 minutes ago, Frobby said:
It’s hard to know how Hyde will play things in October. Will Mateo get any games at SS?
That's certainly not an ideal outcome given Mateo's bat. But at least you know what you have with Jorge, whereas it seems like running Frazier out there is crossing your fingers that he'll tap into whatever magic he has conjured up this year to hit homers, because it's not like his .245 average against righties this season is money in the bank.
I wish Ortiz had been given a fair shot at SS so that Gunnar could be put at 3B and Westburg/Urias split 2B, but that's probably water under the bridge this late in the game.
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Arm injury for Bautista?
in Orioles Talk
Posted
@baltfan mentioned a reason. Gameplanning as well. More generally I think it's just an ingrained principle for teams to be cagey about divulging injury news. There's zero upside to it and at least theoretical downside.