Matt Angle DFAed

[Tony-OH]

I think that is about what he'd need to hit to be a useful 4th OF. I think it is somewhat debatable whether he will do that well in the majors. He has a .266/.343/.326 line in AAA and I expect he'd do a little worse than that in the majors.

Perhaps, but I personally think Angle is a better hitter than those overall numbers show, especially since he started off ice cold while battling some injuries last spring. Once he got hot and when he was playing everyday and not getting interrupted by promotions to Baltimore where he sat the bench mostly, Angle hit .340 (64-193) in June and July while putting up a .416 OBP while stealing 18 bases in 20 attempts. To me, this shows his promise to do better than his overall AAA stats, especially when you add in his career AA numbers which are outlandish. I have some concerns that he may not be able to handle the good fastball in on his hand, but he's smart enough to make adjustments of pitchers who do it to him too often.

Regardless, he's not the kind of guy you just DFA in my opinion, especially when you have a guy like Josh Bell still on your roster and honestly, I'd rather have Angle than Jai Miller since I don't think his K rates translate well to the majors. It will be interesting to follow how their cares play out, but I'm willing to say right now that Angle ends up with much longer and better career than Miller or Bell.

[Frobby]

Perhaps, but I personally think Angle is a better hitter than those overall numbers show, especially since he started off ice cold while battling some injuries last spring. Once he got hot and when he was playing everyday and not getting interrupted by promotions to Baltimore where he sat the bench mostly, Angle hit .340 (64-193) in June and July while putting up a .416 OBP while stealing 18 bases in 20 attempts. To me, this shows his promise to do better than his overall AAA stats, especially when you add in his career AA numbers which are outlandish. I have some concerns that he may not be able to handle the good fastball in on his hand, but he's smart enough to make adjustments of pitchers who do it to him too often.

Regardless, he's not the kind of guy you just DFA in my opinion, especially when you have a guy like Josh Bell still on your roster and honestly, I'd rather have Angle than Jai Miller since I don't think his K rates translate well to the majors. It will be interesting to follow how their cares play out, but I'm willing to say right now that Angle ends up with much longer and better career than Miller or Bell.

Your logic makes a lot of sense. I feel it's pretty likely Angle will have a better career than Bell, who has shown me nothing in his two major league stints. As you know, I have my reservations about Miller as well based on his K-rate, but I'd like to see the guy play before firming up my opinion.

[DrungoHazewood]

Are you suggesting that Matt Angle will be a .177 hitter in the majors?

No. My response you quoted was in the context of someone suggesting that Angle was the reason the O's won more than they lost during his time in the lineup. I think it's hard to attribute the surge to Angle given that he hit .177.

I think he'd do better than that, probably in the .250-.260 range. And I agree that he's a useful piece as a 4th/5th outfielder on a good team, just so long as he's not getting 300+ PAs, or being counted on to start. It won't take long to expose a starting major league outfielder with a .600-something OPS unless he's just absoutely great at baserunning and defense.

[Tony-OH]

No. My response you quoted was in the context of someone suggesting that Angle was the reason the O's won more than they lost during his time in the lineup. I think it's hard to attribute the surge to Angle given that he hit .177.

I think he'd do better than that, probably in the .250-.260 range. And I agree that he's a useful piece as a 4th/5th outfielder on a good team, just so long as he's not getting 300+ PAs, or being counted on to start. It won't take long to expose a starting major league outfielder with a .600-something OPS unless he's just absoutely great at baserunning and defense.

Got it. I pretty much agree with this assessment. The only thing I will add is that he is a smart player and sometimes smart players find a way to overcome there deficiencies and get the most out of their skill set. My biggest question is whether or not he can handle the good fastball.

[DrungoHazewood]

Got it. I pretty much agree with this assessment. The only thing I will add is that he is a smart player and sometimes smart players find a way to overcome there deficiencies and get the most out of their skill set. My biggest question is whether or not he can handle the good fastball.

I think he may be one of those guys like Willie Bloomquist, who's never much better than a replacement player but somehow stays smart or adaptable or whatever and stays that same guy for 10 years. By any logic Bloomquist, or David Eckstein or Craig Counsell should have been out of the league years ago, but they're still plugging away.