Reynolds

[Floater]

I've never dropped so many f-bombs at the yard before. Good god Reynolds was horrible last night and it just made Yankee fans ever more annoying. On top of that, we had no offense, just a bunch of passed balls we took advantage of.

[atomic]

If this team were better offensively or pitching wise, we could afford Reynolds at 3B. But becuase we are barely able to score more than 4 runs a game, and brarely able to prevent four from scoring, shakey defense like his, stands out.

You think you would have a great pitching team with reynolds at third base? I don't think that is possible. Back in the Orioles glory days I am sure if you replaced Brooks, Belanger, and Blair with Reynolds, Hardy and Jones the pitching results would be quite different. Pitching and defense go hand in hand.

[Sports Guy]

that he's a good offensive player. My viewpoint is that he is not a good offensive player

Most people think he is a flawed offensive player whose strengths have a lot of value.

He's a mistake hitter that can't hit good pitching.

Really? So, in the 5 years he has been an everyday player, he has managed to put up an 800+ OPS 3 times and just missed on a 4th time all by never hitting good pitching and just hitting mistakes? That is quite impressive.

I don't see that in any other thread.

Oh. well then perhaps you should read more carefully...Plenty of people, even those who like Reynolds, have talked about his flaws over and over again.

I also didn't see any other thread before posting

Yea, I can see how you could miss the the 2 or 3 ongoing Reynolds threads that appeared at the top of the page when you initially posted this.

and find it laughable that the guy that has a one track mantra of the O's suck, dismantle the team, quizzing me on how I choose to post.

The laughable thing is how you even tie these 2 things together. Your thread isn't unique. Your view point isn't different and quite frankly, its also partially wrong. This board doesn't need to continue to get cluttered up with the same threads over and over again because you believe your viewpoint deserves a thread.

[Sports Guy]

I find it laughable that Reynolds is the new whipping boy. This site is just incredible sometimes. Its 5 games and people are already acting this way? Its a shame the Sun boards started charging.

[Orioles0615]

Is there a video of the foul ball he missed. I must of missed that last night. I haven't found it anywhere online.

[Sports Guy]

Is there a video of the foul ball he missed. I must of missed that last night. I haven't found it anywhere online.

Yea, just go to www.whatthehellwereyouthinking.com.

[CA-ORIOLE]

I find it laughable that Reynolds is the new whipping boy. This site is just incredible sometimes. Its 5 games and people are already acting this way? Its a shame the Sun boards started charging.

Well, it's not just 5 games, it was an entire season of futility and frustration with his defense last year. The decision to keep Reynolds at third wasn't exactly a poplular one.

[Lucky Jim]

Frankly, there aren't many guys on this team who are good at advancing runners. But let's give this a little context. Last year, AL hitters advanced runners from 3B with less than 2 out 53% of the time. The Orioles did it 52% of the time. Reynolds did it 35% of the time in 31 opportunities. That's five fewer times than an average player would have. AL hitters advanced a runner from 2B with nobody out 55% of the time. The Orioles did it 54% of the time. Reynolds did it 48% of the time in 27 opportunities. That's about two fewer times than an average player would have. So, over the course of a season, Reynolds failed to advance a runner from 2nd or 3rd in "move the runner" situation seven more times than the average player would have.

Now let's look at the other side of the strikeout coin. The league grounded into double plays 11% of the time there was a DP situation. The Orioles did it 14% of the time. But Reynolds only did it 10% of the time in 108 opportunities. That's one fewer time than the average player, four fewer times than the average Oriole.

FWIW, in 2011 the best on the Orioles at advancing a runner from 3B with less than two outs were Guerrero (74%), Jones (66%) and Markakis (65%). Worst were Andino (32%), Davis (33%), Scott (33%) and Reynolds (35%). Best at advancing a runner from 2B with nobody out were Andino (77%), Roberts (71%) and Markakis (63%). Worst were Reimold (33%), Pie (38%), Lee (42%) and Hardy (42%). Scott, Wieters and Guerrero also were worse than Reynolds in that situation. Our lowest GIDP guys were Scott (5%), Reimold (7%) and Davis (9%), while our highest were Guerrero (22%), Lee (19%) and Wieters (18%). (I am only including players with 100+ PA on these lists.)

In case anyone is wondering, I am getting this from BB-ref: http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BAL/2011-batting.shtml (scroll down to "Team PH/HR/Situ Hitting").

By the way, Reynolds over his career has done somewhat better at these situational hitting categories than he did in 2011: 44% with runner on 3B and less than 2 out, 49% with a runner on 2B and nobody out, 8% career GIDP rate. Data is here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/reynoma01-bat.shtml (scroll down to "Situational Hitting").

To me, if all you are looking at is the offensive side of the equation, 37 homers far outweighs the 7 extra times he didn't advance a runner. If you had 9 hitters exactly like 2011 Mark Reynolds, you'd score 5.2 runs/game, compared to the 4.4 runs a game the Orioles actually scored. So far as I am concerned, I can accept Reynolds' flaws as a hitter, because they are outweighed by his strengths. That's not to say I am not frustrated as anyone else when he strikes out in one of these situations.

Reynolds' defense is the much bigger issue here, and he certainly has done nothing so far this season to indicate he'll be better than last year. It's too early to pull the plug on him at 3B but we can't have him making an error every other game.

This really should be the (temporary) final word on the issue. And judging by Roch's blog on Showalter/Reynolds, it is institutionally.

[Sports Guy]

I don't think he just became a whipping boy. He had to be moved off of 3B last year because he was so bad. It's something that was an issue coming into the season. Now, Reynolds was a standup guy about it last night but that doesn't change the fact that he was awful last year defensively and helped cost us the game last night. Offensively, he's going to look terrible at times and then look great for weeks at a time. I think he's got a bad rap offensively and thought he had plenty of big hits and homeruns last year. However, because he doesn't add anything defensively, his offense will come under even greater scrutiny.

Wieters calling a slider to Ibanez was worse than the Reynolds error. Nick being in poor position to throw Cano out at the plate was also bad.

Of course, those aren't errors that appear on the score card and since those 2 won GGs, no one mentions it but the bottom line is those were 2 poor decisions that hurt us just as bad as the Reynolds error.

[Sports Guy]

Well, it's not just 5 games, it was an entire season of futility and frustration with his defense last year. The decision to keep Reynolds at third wasn't exactly a poplular one.

I am talking more about the crying about his offense.

I get that people are going to overreact to his defense after last season.

[Lucky Jim]

Wieters calling a slider to Ibanez was worse than the Reynolds error. Nick being in poor position to throw Cano out at the plate was also bad.

Of course, those aren't errors that appear on the score card and since those 2 won GGs, no one mentions it but the bottom line is those were 2 poor decisions that hurt us just as bad as the Reynolds error.

I see what you're trying to do here, and I appreciate it, but don't necessarily agree. The Reynolds error was worse, it just didn't stand alone - by a long shot.

[CA-ORIOLE]

I am talking more about the crying about his offense.

I get that people are going to overreact to his defense after last season.

Sure, but like RZNJ said, that is natural that his offense may come under more scrutiny as he's not hitting and looking pretty bad at that as well.

I know he did ok last year, but I'm a bit concerned about his offense as well to be honest with you. He's getting fed a steady diet of offspeed stuff and his babip has gone way down the past 2 years. Did he even see a hittable FB last night? Add in expanded strike zone and it could get tough for him.

[Sports Guy]

I see what you're trying to do here, and I appreciate it, but don't necessarily agree. The Reynolds error was worse, it just didn't stand alone - by a long shot.

The only argument that it was worse because you know the outcome. If Wieters had called a fastball, you don't know that Ibanez doesn't get a hit. If Nick had set up properly, you don't know he would have thrown him out.

And while I see that argument, the bottom line is they each made a decision and the decision was wrong...In the case of Reynolds, he decided to play the short hop and he actually made an error. The other 2 didn't make a physical error but they did make a mental one and it likely cost them. If Nick makes the same throw but just has a little bit more behind it, Cano is out and Reynolds doesn't get a chance to make that error.

Palmer mentioned how Cano deeked Nick...Nick should know better in that situation to not be in a more ready position to make that throw.

[Sports Guy]

Did anyone have a problem with the slider that was a strike earlier in the count or the sliders that were strikes ealier. Strop has a very good slider. Talk about the ultimate second guess. I guess Wieters should never call for anything but Strop's fastball. I wasn't sure, at the time, if it was a changeup or slider. If it had been the changeup (not even sure if Strop has one) I could understand the problem. Nothing wrong with calling a slider there. It's the execution of the pitch.

I did..Palmer did.

Why speed up the bat of a guy who isn't going to hit your fastball?

[Sports Guy]

Sure, but like RZNJ said, that is natural that his offense may come under more scrutiny as he's not hitting and looking pretty bad at that as well.

I know he did ok last year, but I'm a bit concerned about his offense as well to be honest with you. He's getting fed a steady diet of offspeed stuff and his babip has gone way down the past 2 years. Did he even see a hittable FB last night? Add in expanded strike zone and it could get tough for him.

Reynolds had a 750ish OPS 2 years ago. Its possible for us to see him have a down offensive year...you would have to be pretty foolish to think otherwise.

But freaking out about it after 5 games is really awful.