Saunders, The Sheriff & Andino: All 3 Improve This Team

[DrungoHazewood]

Saunders performance tonight bests every single pitching performance we've had this year. Hate to say it but the OP is right on. Sometimes you gotta pay for quality, the bargain basement approach will only take you so far.

So... just as a matter of course you would always prefer a 30-year-old league average guy with middling stuff over any of a list of higher-upside younger, cheaper and potentially more productive players? Then why not Freddy Garcia over Tillman? Are you upset there? Are you upset they didn't dump Matusz and instead sign Clay Rapada to be the lefty out of the pen? What about the penny-pinching Angelos refusing to trade his precious prospects for Chase Headley and instead going with the untested and obviously cheap Machado?

[Brendan25]

Agree with Saunders. Possibly agree with Andino. Disagree with Reynolds.

[bdlj0887]

Anyone longing for the days of Andino is insane.

[ShaneDawg85]

Robert Andino adds nothing that Casilla can't already do, and Casilla is the better defensive player, by far. How anyone could think Andino would be an upgrade of Casilla is beyond me. Joe Saunders is an average major league pitcher, always has been, always will be, who is aided by the ballpark he pitches in. If Arrieta ever learned to just pitch we wouldn't be reminiscing over Joe Saunders. Mark Reynolds, again, doesn't play for the Orioles anymore. In fact none of these guys play for the Orioles anymore, and its specious reason to believe that the team would be any better than it is right now then they are.

[BohKnowsBmore]

Robert Andino adds nothing that Casilla can't already do, and Casilla is the better defensive player, by far. How anyone could think Andino would be an upgrade of Casilla is beyond me. Joe Saunders is an average major league pitcher, always has been, always will be, who is aided by the ballpark he pitches in. If Arrieta ever learned to just pitch we wouldn't be reminiscing over Joe Saunders. Mark Reynolds, again, doesn't play for the Orioles anymore. In fact none of these guys play for the Orioles anymore, and its specious reason to believe that the team would be any better than it is right now then they are.

The thing that irks me about the Andino nostalgia or want is that if Andino were still on this team, doing exactly what he is doing for the M's this instant, the same fans that are saying he would be an improvement would be demanding answers about why the team did nothing to at least try and upgrade the position. Please raise your hand if you wanted the O's to keep Andino or criticized them for dealing him. You're all liars.

[Frobby]

Joe Saunders is an average major league pitcher, always has been, always will be, who is aided by the ballpark he pitches in. If Arrieta ever learned to just pitch we wouldn't be reminiscing over Joe Saunders.

True, but we all know the O's were taking a risk by not re-signing Saunders and betting that one of Arrieta/Britton/Matusz/Johnson/etc. would be better than him. There were reasons to take that risk, but so far, it isn't paying off. Still 136 games to go, though.

[Aristotelian]

I was in favor of resigning Saunders and Reynolds. Saunders hasn't had a great start, but the Orioles 5th starters' spot has been poor. Reynolds has played great and probably would have been a better hitter so far than Reimold/Pearce.

Edit: Not to Monday morning QB too much here; I wanted both back, but didn't think it was a huge mistake to let them go.

Would you have done Saunders and Reynolds if doing so cost us Wieters? What guys would you have given up to end up with the same payroll? Don't say "just increase the payroll" because money doesn't grow on trees.

[glenn__davis]

Saunders at home: 2-0, 0.81 ERA

Saunders on the road: 0-3, 12.51 ERA

He has always been money at Safeco. We learned this last year. He will do well for the Mariners in his home starts. I have no problem not re-signing him.

Also have no problem with the Andino/Casilla swap.

Reynolds is a little trickier.

[crawjo]

I don't see the point of this thread. Andino and Saunders have not played well this year and don't have a track record to suggest that they would be much improvement over what we already have. Reynolds is off to a good start but it would be very difficult to pin the "blame" for our horrible, terrible, no good and very bad start to our offense, which has been productive.

[olehippi]

IMO, having Saunders and Andino on the roster wouldn't make the Orioles a better team. And the yammering about Reynold's is only because he is off to a hot start, and our DH'er are now stinking up the joint. I'm willing to bet both situations will change.

My greatest concern for this team was, and still is, pitching. With only a couple exceptions, it looks a little shaky. I truly expect to see two of Johnson, Garcia or maybe Jurrjens brought up soon. Johnson is the most likely since he is already on the 40 man roster.

[DrungoHazewood]

I don't see the point of this thread. Andino and Saunders have not played well this year and don't have a track record to suggest that they would be much improvement over what we already have. Reynolds is off to a good start but it would be very difficult to pin the "blame" for our horrible, terrible, no good and very bad start to our offense, which has been productive.

The point of the thread is to express frustration over the fact that sometimes correct choices over the long-term don't mainfest themselves in single points of data. Since railing against random variation is kind of pointless, Buck and Duquette are next in line.

[96ludevtec]

Reynold's needed to go. Guy is streaky as hell. He'll hit five homers in two weeks then go silent for two months. Very happy he's gone. Andino can't hit and proved that. Glad he's gone too. Saunders was good last year for us but I didn't think we needed to keep him and I'm glad we didn't. Glad all three guys are gone. Wasn't happy about the loss to Seattle last night, but Saunders pitched well and we couldn't get anything going. It's baseball and we'll bounce back tonight. Oh and Casilla needs to go. When he does go he needs to take Flaherty, Strop, and Arrieta with him.

[Ommaculate]

Reynolds has another homerun tonight and his batting average is up to .309. When is the last time he was batting over .300?

[bdlj0887]

Reynolds has another homerun tonight and his batting average is up to .309. When is the last time he was batting over .300?

Never, which is a pretty good indication it won't stay that way.

[Ommaculate]

Never, which is a pretty good indication it won't stay that way.

Isn't it his contract year? I could see him having a monster season.