Orioles plan to select the contract of INF Manny Machado

[glenn__davis]

I haven't read this whole thread, just the first few pages, but it looks like I'm in the minority here in that I'm not really a big fan of this move.

You're trying to solve a void at 3B by bringing up a kid who has played there very little in the midst of a pennant race, right when it looked like he was starting to figure out AA pitching. It's just asking too much of him IMO.

Especially when it looks like they've almost found a passable if not great solution by platooning Betemit and Andino there.

I've always been one to preach against having a general philosophy on promotions, that is, they should be done on a case-by-case basis. But I just think this is asking too much of Machado.

I'm as excited as everyone else to see him in action, though.

[SteveA]

Best post of the thread. This could be Mike Trout... or it could ruin Machado's career. I mean, I say I have faith in DD and Buck but this is really pushing it. This is really gutsy.

As for the comparisons to Harper... Over the past month he's hitting .182 AVG with a .543 OPS. It's really looking like Harper wasn't quite ready for the big show quite yet. And now the Orioles are gambling that Machado will prove to catch up to big league pitching quicker and better than Harper.

<a href="http://s1106.photobucket.com/albums/h367/isestrex/Emoticons/?action=view&current=unsure.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h367/isestrex/Emoticons/unsure.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

See, I don't buy into the whole "ruin his career" thing. Plenty of players came up and sucked early (ref: Cal Ripken 1981 & Mike Schmidt's rookie season). But coming up early didn't ruin them. Now if you come back with examples of top prospects who.came up early, sucked, and never acheived greatness -- I will just counter that maybe they just weren't going to be great anyway. As we know, all prospects donLt pan out for a variety of reasons.

(Note: all of the abive applies to hitters. Pitchers are a different animal, IMO).

Sent from my DROID Pro using Tapatalk 2

[Brendan25]

I haven't read this whole thread, just the first few pages, but it looks like I'm in the minority here in that I'm not really a big fan of this move.

You're trying to solve a void at 3B by bringing up a kid who has played there very little in the midst of a pennant race, right when it looked like he was starting to figure out AA pitching. It's just asking too much of him IMO.

Especially when it looks like they've almost found a passable if not great solution by platooning Betemit and Andino there.

I've always been one to preach against having a general philosophy on promotions, that is, they should be done on a case-by-case basis. But I just think this is asking too much of Machado.

I'm as excited as everyone else to see him in action, though.

I'm in the same boat as you are. If I'm DD, I don't think I make this move right now. The chemistry on this team seems to be going just right. I'm guessing that Betemit gets the biggest impact from this move.

Like you though, I'm excited as hell to see him. I am in no way mad about this move, just not sure if the timing is right.

[weams]

It is also a pennant race. It might be a good thing to give our future a taste of that.

[Hank Scorpio]

Thanks, all, for your impotent neg reps for making this joke.

I got it

I also like that you were compared to JTrea in this thread. :laughlol:

[Hank Scorpio]

The real question is: what's worse, the negative rep or being compared to Trea?

DEFINITELY the latter.

I almost peed.

[TiredofLosing20]

Nothing to do with that at all. There is no way on God's green earth that even an Angelos-led team would call up their top prospect before he's ready in order to get a relatively minor one-time bump in publicity and attendance.

I think it is is more than an one time bump. It creates interest at a normal time when interest wanes (of course they were usually 200 games out by now). He is hot right now and maybe he is ready and like I said I am sure they believe he is ready, but you don't find the timing curious especially when call-ups are not that far down the road. Did they really go, you know Machado and his two games and 1 error is our answer at 3B and the playoff push they need? The whole thing seems weird.

[DrungoHazewood]

So, everyone of a certain age remember Ben McDonald's relationship to the 1989 Orioles? He'd been drafted in June as basically the most MLB-ready college pitcher of all time. As the O's stayed in first place all summer with a rotation held together with Play Doh and mirrors and duct tape, the speculation was McDonald would sign at any moment and step right into the rotation in the pennant race and (hopefully) push them over the top.

But he didn't sign until September, spent nine innings at Frederick, then got the call. He only got into a handful of mopup situations down the stretch, not winning a game until the last day of the season after they'd been eliminated.

Hopefully Manny provides the spark that Ben never did.

[DrungoHazewood]

See, I don't buy into the whole "ruin his career" thing. Plenty of players came up and sucked early (ref: Cal Ripken 1981 & Mike Schmidt's rookie season). But coming up early didn't ruin them. Now if you come back with examples of top prospects who.came up early, sucked, and never acheived greatness -- I will just counter that maybe they just weren't going to be great anyway. As we know, all prospects donLt pan out for a variety of reasons.

(Note: all of the abive applies to hitters. Pitchers are a different animal, IMO).

Sent from my DROID Pro using Tapatalk 2

I have essentially zero concern about ruining Machado's career. There are just too many examples of great talents coming up early, not hitting real well, and ending up as stars. ARod's stats as a teenager were a .609 OPS in 200 PAs, and I think he's done ok since.

[Brendan25]

Mike Trout hit .220 last year with a .281 OBP, 9 BB and 30K

[TiredofLosing20]

I have essentially zero concern about ruining Machado's career. There are just too many examples of great talents coming up early, not hitting real well, and ending up as stars. ARod's stats as a teenager were a .609 OPS in 200 PAs, and I think he's done ok since.

For the record, I agree with this. I have no concern about ruining his career. I am not even really against bringing him up this year if they truly believe he is ready I guess I just don't know how they can possibly think he is ready given his 2 games at 3B and the fact that the team is playing well, so more than anything I am questioning the timing. All of that said, I will be intently watching while taping the Eagles game tonight

[weams]

You come at the king, you best not miss.

I just realized where you were going with that. Even funnier in that context.

[BRobinsonfan]

There will, soon, be a loyalty oath that we must sign. I'm about the biggest DD critic on the board, and I'm hardly that vocal or unilateral about it. And yet I'm getting compared to Trea? A great day, but - given the tone and intelligence of the various threads and posts overall - not much of an intellectual high point for the board.

I think we should all start referring to Lucky Jim as "LJea" now in recognition of his status as the new "JTrea" on the OH.

IN fact, I think he should be forced to change his screen name or forfeit two birds.

[tennOsfan]

The way I look at it, if you call him up early and he stinks up his career, then he probably wasn't that good to begin with.

This team is in a pennant race for the first time in 15 years, and we need some talent. If you can't trade for it, call up what you can. Maybe he blooms into the player we want a whole lot sooner than we expected. It's worth a shot.

[atom_25]

After reading Roch's post this morning, I am feel pretty rosy about this, at least more so than my immediate reaction when I saw the news last night. Article is here (and I apologize if on a previous page in the thread).