Bemorewins

Honestly, if you are asking me what I would do. I play Mateo more right now because he is outperforming Urias. I would also, give Mayo some time in RF at AAA. And I would leave Holliday down at AAA as well. I wouldn't feel rushed to make a move right now and I would probably reevaluate things some time in June. I would not recall Holliday until he has had at least 60 days (2 months time at AAA) and he would have to be mashing at that time and shown that he has worked on the things that they have asked him. I would not bring up Mayo until he has had adequate time to adjust to the OF. To answer your question, I would not bring up Mayo to play 3B. It creates an unnecessary problem for you both now and later. If the O's are not planning to trade Mayo (which I hope they don't), the most likely scenario is that he is going to move out of the infield because his defense is not good enough. Lastly, if by June/ early July Santander hasn't picked it up, then I would give Mayo or Kjerstad a serious look in RF. The reason that I say RF for Mayo is that he has a very strong arm and pretty decent mobility for a guy his size, but I don't think that the glove is good enough for the INF at a high level in the Major Leagues. I also, wouldn't expect Mayo/Holliday/Cowser/Kjerstad to put up an .800+ OPS in their first go round in the Major Leagues. I don't think that is a realistic expectation at all for a guy making the jump for the first time.

No, I don't have Holliday penciled into the HOF. I never said that. What I said is that I believe in his talent. I don't think that many people got it wrong in his evaluation. I also don't believe that Mayo's defense is anywhere close to good enough to be an All-star caliber 3B. But I do believe that is possible (maybe even very for Westburg). I'm not sure that professional sports is a meritocracy. In that the more talent/ability that you have, the more opportunities that you will get. That probably explains why Holliday got the first crack at the Bigs over Norby (and even Mayo to a degree). Last thing, right now Mateo is performing best at the other INF spot (second best). Do you want him to stay/get more playing time right now?

I think it is a good move to give Cowser a rest this evening and to get Kjerstad some more ABs.

Holliday was just adjusting to 2B (and still had his bugaboos there), now you want him moved to CF? You must not be amongst the many who really believe that he is a special talent? You would move the number one rated prospect in the sport out of the infield and to a position that he has never played in his life before? Let get this one straight, was there one scenario where Mayo and/or Holliday would be back ups? Did you have one where one of if not the best hitter on the team (Westburg) becomes a backup? You must really believe in Mayo’s talent and think that he is underrated by most evaluators? It sounds like you are the president of the Mayo fan club.

I love Holliday’s talent. I truly do. But I am rooting for all of the players that don the Orange & Black. I don’t see a need to turn them into rivals or competitors. They are all representing or are going to represent the same franchise. Mayo is not a better 3B than Westburg. He just isn’t and it’s not all that close. But Mayo’s bat could help us at some point this year, especially given that he hits from the right side. In your opinion, if Mayo were to come up and find success offensively right away (which is a rarity in the current game of baseball) but struggles defensively, (which is very possibility given his short comings at 3B) what would you do? Or what if he struggles offensively like so many of our prospects have done, then what do you do? Last scenario, if he does great on both sides of the ball, what do you do with Holliday for the rest of this season and long term?

They have more team speed for sure. But I don’t think that they are good enough to make the O’s look bad or anything. The Reds are a .500 type team. Now that is not to say that they can’t/won’t take 2 of 3 from us. It’s baseball after all, stuff like that can and will happen over the course of 162.

Did you read just one of my posts in this thread? Because I stated differently a few times. If we could get Mason Miller without giving up Basallo. That would be great. Or if we could get another elite back end piece that would be great too. I think Harvey is good, not elite. He has almost the same amount of career saves as Miller and also comes with injury concerns.

Which one of those is he not on par with in terms of talent? Maybe Chapman? Maybe.

This is a different team. Corbin Burnes would have made a difference IMO and we have now acquired him. I am not dogmatic in believing that it has to be Miller and nothing/nobody else. I am saying that there is a serious argument to be made that Miller or another elite backend bullpen weapon is the piece to take us over the top when the Fall get's here. With a team this good who has legit WS aspirations with a strong argument to be made that we have the best team in the AL, I would hate for us to pin our WS hopes on a pitcher like Craig Kimbrel at this point in his career. IMO he is not good/reliable enough. If we have to get into a game (in October) where it turns into a battle of the bullpens, I would prefer not to have bring a knife to a gun fight.

That it does. But the consensus last season was that we were good going into October with the rotation as is. And we see how well that worked out. The consensus can be wrong.

Would you rather Miller have thrown 124 games already? 224? The low amount of games is a bonus IMO because there is not as much wear and tear on that arm. Secondly, it is a TREMENDOUS risk inserting Hunter Harvey as closer. More than Miller IMO because he has NEVER been that before. The talent of the two are not equivalent and not that close IMO. If I am going to bet on someone with a limited track record, give me the one with the superior talent. Craig Kimbrel is not an elite closer at this point. First of all, he is limited to 1 inning and in April (the beginning of the season) he has already shown issues with holding up when being relied upon with relative frequency (thus taxing the rest of the pen because he can't be counted on to shoulder a regular work load.

There is risk involved either way. There is a risk that Basallo never becomes the player we all hope or even half that.

You are willing to potentially put the fate of our World Series hopes in the hands of Hunter Harvey? … I’m genuinely curious as to why when there are much better delivers to be had (one of which is Miller).

This is not 2014. Not even close! We have a young great team, that (on paper) is better than that one. And Mason Miller has FIVE more years of club control after this one. He is not a pending FA like Andrew Miller was. He can help us for multiple seasons.

We are the better team with the much better trade chips/minor league pieces. Any move they can make we can counter and then some!

The payroll didn’t stand out to me during the series. And it’s not something that I generally pay attention during the season. Most good teams tend to have a higher payroll. And ours will increase dramatically soon. I actually tend to root for all players to get paid (regardless of team). They have such a limited window to make generation(s) transforming kind of money. And if the players don’t get it, then it goes back into the owners’ billionaire pockets. I’m certainly not rooting for that!

My take away is the Yankees are who I thought they were. They are a team with an excellent pitching staff, but a very inconsistent (feast or famine) offense. Their lineup lacks depth and is very top heavy - first five good, last four not so much. I will say that another couple of things that stood out to me are: 1) How bad Judge looks now. I don’t ever remember him having a prolonged month-long slump like this before. That is easily probably the worse series that he has had against us. 2) Another thing that stood out to me is how unafraid/unimpressed that our guys seemed to be going up against them. I think the Orioles to a man know they have the superior team. Overall, the Yankees have a good playoff caliber team that should win in the low to mid 90’s and qualify for a wildcard birth. I just think the Orioles are a 100+ win team. The big differences between the two teams are - defense, depth, and athleticism.

What chance do you think that they would add Mayo to the 40 man, call him up and then just use him for just the next 10 games?

Another thing to consider about the A’s situation with Miller is what the goal of their season is. They are not seriously competing for anything this year (or even next for that matter), so their goal is to secure the best draft position that they can (given the new rules in place for the lottery style system). The A’s are currently a few games under .500. While some may see that as good, they are being prompted up by an elite pen (especially back end and nothing else). Their offense is terrible and is being led by a journeyman in Nevin. Their true talent does not suggest team fighting for .500. This Mason Miller and the like are actually too good and are preventing them from their goal. It seems logical that the best purpose for an elite back end arm like Miller for the A’s org, is to move him for more talent who can help on future teams (when they are a more talented team overall and are ready to win).

The A’s have an unprecedented situation, given the flux of the franchise and not having a future permanent place to call him right now. So their situation is a little different to begin with. However, you might be right, they might take the risk not to trade him. But teams NEVER build around a closer (even one who appears to be as dominant as Miller). They are going to be bad this season and next with or without Miller because their team is not strong enough to get him enough chances and to win enough games independent of him. They do not have enough hitting talent to challenge TEX for the division or make a legit run as a wildcard. They would be better off trading him (while they can before a possible injury occurs) because they need so much help. If the Orioles were devoid of org talent like the A’s were it would have made sense to move a Mullins. But considering at the conclusion of ‘19 that we had drafted Adley and Gunnar (by then) AND we had a young Mountcastle and Hays and Grayson and Hall (who was still considered a very good prospect) and we had a very high pick coming the next year. I would say our situation is MUCH DIFFERENT than their situation is. The cupboard is pretty bare in their system.

I agree. Maybe the wrong wording by me. I should have said is at risk for significant arm injury.

Mullins is a CF, Miller is a closer who has already had a significant arm injury. The two are not equivalent. Basically they would want to trade him (given the high probability of pitcher’s injuries) if/before something happens to him.

The age is a problem for the A’s because they are not ready to win now and he is already at his prime years. This is the whole reason that they would be reading a 25 yr old Miller. The future is what they are building toward.

Miller would give us a great advantage this season and an even better next season when Bautista returns.

No doubt Westburg! It looks to me that Mayo’s place on this team next season will be in RF/DH.