Withholding Judgment

[Dark Helmet]

This is true. But it sounds like he's in good shape at this point, and he's young enough to have a good chance at coming back strong.

I'm cautiously optimistic.

Back injuries never go completely away, even with surgery. The stiffness alone that comes with a back injury is enough to hamper him playing. And 29 isnt that young. Injuries or whatever, Reimold hasnt been able to put it together. Its always something. Im not counting on him now. Maybe he's Luke Scott. Maybe we get a few nice seasons out of him. But im not cpunting on it. It's ashame too. Nolan had the skills to be a guy that could hit .300 and 30 HR and get on base at a .350 or better clip.

[mark_beckens]

I'm not sure I am following you. I think the issue relates to what our lineup could have been for next year, vs. what it will be with Reynolds gone. Manny is at 3B either way.

Having Manny all year, hopefully, will offset any loss of production from not having Reynolds and having a platoon DH.

[waroriole]

Having Manny all year, hopefully, will offset any loss of production from not having Reynolds and having a platoon DH.

Not having Reynolds hit below .700 for the whole season (minus 3weeks) will help too.

[mark_beckens]

Not having Reynolds hit below .700 for the whole season (minus 3weeks) will help too.

I don't think he was worth what he was asking for/got. Those resources can be better used and he can be replaced. If he could only be more consistant.

[wildcard]

Not having Reynolds hit below .700 for the whole season (minus 3weeks) will help too.

I don't think Reynolds projects to a 700 OPS in 2013. More like 30HR, 80 RBI, 776 OPS and 190 K. I think the 190K were why DD didn't sign him as a FA.

[waroriole]

I don't think Reynolds projects to a 700 OPS in 2013. More like 30HR, 80 RBI, 776 OPS and 190 K. I think the 190K were why DD didn't sign him as a FA.

If you take out those 3 hot weeks, he was under .700 last year. That's awful.

He'll probably rebound this year, but I don't think he'll rebound enough to be better than a platoon we can utiltize with him being gone.

[Oriolidae85]

While he's healthy, which will be a healthy minority of 162 games.

Same for Nate...he's had the injury snake bite most of his career as well, which may be why the O's still have Xavier and Hoes waiting. Buck has a knack for dealing with injury prone guys....that was my biggest concern last year going into the season (Reimold, Betemit, Chavez, Teagarden, etc...). Reimold and DH should be a good mix. And it is, IMO, why the O's were not reluctant to lose Reynolds. Tough call, but Reimold being healthy makes Reynolds expendable....Peyton Manning seems to be doing fine with his related surgery.

[Frobby]

Not having Reynolds hit below .700 for the whole season (minus 3weeks) will help too.

Gah! This drives me NUTS!

Mark Reynolds was over .700 for 94 of the 162 games played this season. He was over .700 for the month in May, June, August and September. His final numbers are what they are, and fairly represent his season.

[waroriole]

Gah! This drives me NUTS!

Mark Reynolds was over .700 for 94 of the 162 games played this season. He was over .700 for the month in May, June, August and September. His final numbers are what they are, and fairly represent his season.

It can drive you nuts all you want. If you take out his crazy HR streak (from Aug 31- Sept. 9) of 10 games his slash line was .210/.326/.372/.698. He hit only 14 HR over the remaining games. He brought the offense down for the entire season.

EDIT: Actually, you can take it down to 9 games, and his slash line is .210/.326/.370/.696.

Are you trying to say he wasn't a detriment to our offense all season?

[Frobby]

It can drive you nuts all you want. If you take out his crazy HR streak (from Aug 31- Sept. 9) of 10 games his slash line was .210/.326/.372/.698. He hit only 14 HR over the remaining games. He brought the offense down for the entire season.

EDIT: Actually, you can take it down to 9 games, and his slash line is .210/.326/.370/.696.

Are you trying to say he wasn't a detriment to our offense all season?

You can play this cherry-picking game any way you want to. I say that if you take out his cold start to the season (first 25 team games, 20 games for him), he had an .815 OPS.

Reynolds had times when he was hot, and times when he was cold. They all counted. His final numbers are what they are.

[waroriole]

You can play this cherry-picking game any way you want to. I say that if you take out his cold start to the season (first 25 team games, 20 games for him), he had an .815 OPS.

Reynolds had times when he was hot, and times when he was cold. They all counted. His final numbers are what they are.

25 games is a lot more representative than 9. He was brutal for almost the entire season. He just couldn't make contact with any hittable pitches all season with the exception of those 9 games. I was patient with him for the most part of the season, thinking he'll come around. However, he just couldn't make contact at even the poor rate he had in the past when given meatballs to hit. We're better off with the offense of Betemit/RH DH and it's not even close, IMO.

[Frobby]

25 games is a lot more representative than 9. He was brutal for almost the entire season. He just couldn't make contact with any hittable pitches all season with the exception of those 9 games. I was patient with him for the most part of the season, thinking he'll come around. However, he just couldn't make contact at even the poor rate he had in the past when given meatballs to hit. We're better off with the offense of Betemit/RH DH and it's not even close, IMO.

I'm not arguing whether we may be better off without Reynolds, I just think you are greatly exaggerating how often Reynolds was brutally bad. For example, in the 26 games before the 9-game streak that you identified, Reynolds hit .274/.402/.512. From May 4 to June 14, he hit .342/.462/.658. Was he brutal then?

[waroriole]

I'm not arguing whether we may be better off without Reynolds, I just think you are greatly exaggerating how often Reynolds was brutally bad. For example, in the 26 games before the 9-game streak that you identified, Reynolds hit .274/.402/.512. From May 4 to June 14, he hit .342/.462/.658. Was he brutal then?

You don't like the "cherry picking" I did with those 9 games, I get it. Fair enough.

The reason I bring that stretch up is because it's an event that was so incredible and unlikely to ever be repeated by him. Those 9 games (and that's an incredibly small sample) made his OPS 67 points higher. Take out Hamilton's 4 HR game, and that's only a 28 point difference. The difference in Reynolds' number is the difference between getting a ML contract and a MiL contract.

I get the letting the season speak for itself argument. There are going to be ebbs and flows in everyone's season, and taking out the good or bad distorts the truth. My point in bringing that up though was to show that counting on him to be better next season (and assuming he doesn't go on a ridiculous streak again) is going to require a lot of improvement over the entire season for Mark.