Reimold: The Look in His Eye

[Can_of_corn]

I know they say he can play all three OF positions, but as I said in the lineup thread this morning, McLouth DOES NOT have the arm for RF. I like his defense. In fact, I think he's better at tracking balls than Jones but his arm isn't great.

I would rather have him in right then Davis. I don't think he will kill you if pressed into emergency service over there. You will be giving up the occasional extra base to runners.

[OFFNY]

You can see that look in his eye...I'm not sure you want to take that away from him.

Paraphrasing Buck and Brady about Nolan Reimold.

Good stuff right there. Queue 'Eye of the Tiger' and workout montage.

This thread has wheels, baby !!!

[Frobby]

730 OPS (since we are using OPS) based on last year's offensive model would be the lower limit of what I would say constitutes "Plays there". I think Reimold can provide well in excess of that.

I think McLouth gets to a good number of balls in left but I am not real impressed with his arm. He is likely to be better then Reimold out there.

I think .730 is a good place to draw the line. I think McLouth will meet or exceed that, though it's surely no certainty.

[weams]

In 2011 Al Leftfielders averaged .648 OPS. Still looking for last year.

[isestrex]

And I still have doubts that McLouth's bat will play in LF.

There you go again with a certain position requiring a certain output.

The 1998 Yankees got this from their LF: .263/.366/.393/.760... and that was in a huge offensive time period around the league.

I don't think one person's bat at a certain position means as much as you think it means.

[Can_of_corn]

There you go again with a certain position requiring a certain output.

The 1998 Yankees got this from their LF: .263/.366/.393/.760... and that was in a huge offensive time period around the league.

I don't think one person's bat at a certain position means as much as you think it means.

You know what happens when you have a bunch of guys that don't "have the bat" to play where they are playing?

The Mariners, if you are lucky.

Where is this well of surplus offense that will supplement the O's offense if the guys I have concerns about underachieve?

[wildcard]

I think .730 is a good place to draw the line. I think McLouth will meet or exceed that, though it's surely no certainty.

For Nate I don't think it is so much about his OPS as it is about his OBP vs righthanders and defense.

[malkusm]

You know what happens when you have a bunch of guys that don't "have the bat" to play where they are playing?

The Mariners, if you are lucky.

Where is this well of surplus offense that will supplement the O's offense if the guys I have concerns about underachieve?

Underperforming offensively as compared to league average at a position can be compensated for, by performing at an above average level at some other position.

If your #9 hitter plays LF and has an OPS of .700, and your #3 hitter plays SS and has an OPS of .900...is that different than your #9 hitter playing SS and #3 hitter playing LF with the same OPS?

[SrMeowMeow]

I would be happy with like a 750 OPS and +5 defense from McLouth. But that's gotta be what, like league average production? Not exciting. And that's not exactly his median projection either.

[OFFNY]

Reimold: The Look in His Eye

You can see that look in his eye...I'm not sure you want to take that away from him.

Paraphrasing Buck and Brady about Nolan Reimold.

Good stuff right there. Queue 'Eye of the Tiger' and workout montage.

O

[video=youtube;btPJPFnesV4]

[Can_of_corn]

Underperforming offensively as compared to league average at a position can be compensated for, by performing at an above average level at some other position.

If your #9 hitter plays LF and has an OPS of .700, and your #3 hitter plays SS and has an OPS of .900...is that different than your #9 hitter playing SS and #3 hitter playing LF with the same OPS?

Because a 900 OPS shortstop is going to cost a lot more then a 900 OPS left fielder.

Not sure where the O's are going to find a 900 OPS shortstop, they certainly don't have one right now.

You also don't want to put a 900 OPS guy third unless you have four guys better in your lineup, in which case sure you can have the pitcher batting 9th.

[malkusm]

Because a 900 OPS shortstop is going to cost a lot more then a 900 OPS left fielder.

Not sure where the O's are going to find a 900 OPS shortstop, they certainly don't have one right now.

You also don't want to put a 900 OPS guy third unless you have four guys better in your lineup, in which case sure you can have the pitcher batting 9th.

It was just a hypothetical - I don't really care what offensive production is placed where on the field, as long as on aggregate, we're getting above average production from the lineup as a whole. McLouth isn't the long term answer, but if he's hitting 9th when he's in the lineup and we're playing him peanuts in comparison to a "league average" LF, I'm not that concerned with it. Maybe it doesn't go by the book on what a LF could give you, but then again, not a lot of teams have their CF and C hitting in the 4/5 spots, either.

[Can_of_corn]

It was just a hypothetical - I don't really care what offensive production is placed where on the field, as long as on aggregate, we're getting above average production from the lineup as a whole. McLouth isn't the long term answer, but if he's hitting 9th when he's in the lineup and we're playing him peanuts in comparison to a "league average" LF, I'm not that concerned with it. Maybe it doesn't go by the book on what a LF could give you, but then again, not a lot of teams have their CF and C hitting in the 4/5 spots, either.

The O's are not getting a huge amount of surplus offense from Jones and Wieters.

[malkusm]

The O's are not getting a huge amount of surplus offense from Jones and Wieters.

O's were 4th in MLB for OPS at CF last year - Jones' defense is debatable but I don't think it would move us down more than a couple of spots.

12th OPS at C - but I'd be shocked if Wieters doesn't put up better numbers this year than he did last year, given his age, career trajectory, and spring training numbers. I think we're sort of counting on him being better, if we expect to get back to the playoffs this year.

I should add, I'm in no way saying that you shouldn't get the most value you can out of every position. I'd love to see Reimold play 130+ games this year and produce offense above league average. I'm just saying, in the very likely event that this doesn't happen, having McLouth batting in the 9 hole doesn't hurt us more than maybe 1-2 wins over the course of the year. Especially if we platoon someone with higher upside in there against LHP.

[SrMeowMeow]

Because a 900 OPS shortstop is going to cost a lot more then a 900 OPS left fielder.

Not sure where the O's are going to find a 900 OPS shortstop, they certainly don't have one right now.

You also don't want to put a 900 OPS guy third unless you have four guys better in your lineup, in which case sure you can have the pitcher batting 9th.

Yeah, but a 700 OPS shortstop also costs more than a 700 OPS left fielder. Until one of the positions hits replacement level offense, the costs will stay roughly in proportion.