Ryan Flaherty's OPS is now .385

[LookitsPuck]

The thing about Flaherty is I've seen him absolutely scorch some balls...that end up foul by inches or into the 2nd basemen's glove. I'm seen him drive the ball to deep center field a couple times. I think he's starting to make solid contact.

However he takes multiple steps back by: swinging at the first pitch. Twice in his first 2 at bats. And making weak outs. Then striking out his 3rd at bat.

He's a mess. I know there's still something in that bat of his...but I don't know how much longer we can afford waiting for it to come out.

I'd imagine if Buck thought Navarro's glove was worthwhile he'd be up here yesterday. I have to think that Flaherty gets another week or so to figure things out...otherwise it's Casilla at 2B or Navarro.

[O's84]

This would make a good poll question. How much longer do you give Flaherty.

[brianod]

Does anyone pay attention to the park we play in? Flaherty has the potential to hit 15-20 hrs at OPCY. Given the fact that he plays defense as well as all the slap hitting alternatives, I say keep running him out there for another couple weeks at least.

[El Gordo]

Davis went .232 .282 .400 .682 from May 5 -Aug. 20, 82 G, last year. Granted that's not as bad as Flaherty, but Davis was primarily a DH. I think given Flaherty's D, Buck will have a lot of patience.

[LookitsPuck]

I think we'd be elated if Flaherty's OPS was 682, let alone his AVG at 232.

[Rex Thunder]

Listen, as long as the team is winning, a lot of people, including myself, will put up with Flaherty's anemic offense. However, there will come a time when the offense goes into a lull and it starts to hurt having an automatic out in the lineup. Now, maybe Flaherty stops being an automatic out but so far so bad. But when we start losing a few close games by 3-2 and 4-3 scores, a lot more people will be calling for change, including myself. I like the idea of fixing the problem before it becomes a problem. This would be a perfect time to call up Navarro and give him a real opportunity, while at the same time, letting Flaherty try to get things back together in AAA. Navarro is hitting .421 in his last 10 games with a .522 OBP and a .579 slugging percentage. He's earned a callup and a chance.

While I half agree with that- here's the other side. What if you make the change now, and THEN we start losing? It could have nothing to do with Navarro, or whoever- but messing with a working formula, especially when you know Flaherty HAS THE POTENTIAL to do much better then he is right now, doesnt seem like a screaming necessity to me.

If he keeps struggling, and the team follows suit, then all of a sudden, a change is a must- and brings with it excitement, and an easier chance to "turn the page" and start fresh. I know last year, whenever we struggled, and a change was made, usually to our starting pitching, it always brought an extra bit of optimism that things would turn around.

[Norfolk orioles]

I've been watching Navarro down here in person as a Tides partial season ticket holder.

I've watched every O's game this season live on tv, caught 3 in person or through the magic of TiVo.

Right now, Navarro is playing head and shoulders above Flaherty. Norfolk is a pitchers park, it's nearly impossible to hit home runs without Davis power here, so taking that out of the equation, Navarro's numbers look even that much better than Flaherty's.

It's time to make the switch. Leaving Ryan out there to scuffle and struggle game after game isn't fair to him or the team.

Bring Navarro up, let him bat the first 7 or 8 innings and then if we have a lead, use Casilla as a defensive substitution at 2nd or if we are losing, pinch hit for him with Dickerson or one of our bench players and then let Casilla play defense afterwards.

But allowing Flaherty's black hole of nothingness to clog the bottom half of our lineup game after game is unexceptable.

Bring up Navarro or look for a trade. Arrieta and a lesser prospect should be offered all around the league for even a mediocre 2b at this point.

Think we can talk the Rangers into giving us Profar? Lol

They already have Kinsler and Andrus. They have no room for him.

Maybe a straight swap, Bundy for Profar.....what do you think?

[El Gordo]

To me the bigger problem is Reimold. A DH is supposed to hit.

[Frobby]

I'm drawing the line now.

Why wait that long? It's criminal that Navarro isn't up yet.

First of all, if the O's sent him down today it would be OK with me. Two weeks of .385 OPS would be one thing. Five weeks of .585 OPS would be one thing. But five weeks of .385 OPS is really, really poor.

That said, I keep remembering that Nick Johnson was 0 for April* last year and then turned things around. So, if Buck wants to give Flaherty a few more weeks I'll roll with it. I wouldn't feel that way if Flaherty were playing mediocre defense, but his defense has been way better than I expected.

* Flaherty has had many more PA by now than Johnson had last April.

[Frobby]

I've been watching Navarro down here in person as a Tides partial season ticket holder.

I've watched every O's game this season live on tv, caught 3 in person or through the magic of TiVo.

Right now, Navarro is playing head and shoulders above Flaherty. Norfolk is a pitchers park, it's nearly impossible to hit home runs without Davis power here, so taking that out of the equation, Navarro's numbers look even that much better than Flaherty's.

It's time to make the switch. Leaving Ryan out there to scuffle and struggle game after game isn't fair to him or the team.

Bring Navarro up, let him bat the first 7 or 8 innings and then if we have a lead, use Casilla as a defensive substitution at 2nd or if we are losing, pinch hit for him with Dickerson

But allowing Flaherty's black hole of nothingness to clog the bottom half of our lineup game after game is unexceptable.

y

Can you enlighten us on Navarro's defense, since you've seen him play quite a bit?

[Norfolk orioles]

From what I've seen, (and for the record, I've only seem about a 1/3 of the Tides home games so far this season and none of the road games obviously) he looks to be at least a competent second baseman.

He's never going to be mistaken for Jeff reboulet, but he's not a butcher either. I heard before the season the knock on him was he was overweight and slow, but he seems like he's been pretty quick to balls so far this season and hasn't had any problem turning double plays.

And given how much better his bat is than Flaherty's, I'd fully support a move to bring him up.

Like I said, he's been hitting quite a bit at the minor league level and his numbers would probably be even better if he wasn't in such an extreme pitchers park. Even arrieta puts up good numbers pitching at Harbor Park because hardly anything leaves the yard.

Navarro could put up serviceable numbers at second in the majors and play decent enough defense that he'd be an upgrade over RF.

Given Buck and Dan's history of making moves to better the team, I wouldn't be surprised to see them pull the trigger soon. Can't let Flaherty fall below the .100 mark this late in the season and keep his job. It's just unacceptable for a team with aspirations like this one currently has.

[Norfolk orioles]

He's batting .307, slugging .455 and ops'ing .844 as a second baseman in a pitchers park.

He has 3 stolen bases, has 15 walks and only 20 k's, and leads the team in runs scored and sac fly's. He has 2 hr's and has only hit into one double play on the season.

He's committed 4 errors this season, however, so far this season he has played 2b, 3b, ss, rf and lf.

3 games in right, 1 in left, 2 at third base, 11 at ss and 12 at second.

Apparently he's a super utility player although I don't know if that helps or hurts him in this case since we basically need him for second base only.

[scOtt]

And certainly no offense to you Frobby!

Flash hater.

We have plenty of offense to carry Ryan for a while even. Give him PLENTY of time to find his speed in the Majors. He has plus power. See if he can find his stroke. His D is a PLUS on this team!

[scOtt]

And certainly no offense to you Frobby!

Flash hater.

We have plenty of offense to carry Ryan for a while even. Give him PLENTY of time to find his speed in the Majors. He has plus power. See if he can find his stroke. His D is a PLUS on this team!

We have JJ at SS so a Belanger at 2nd will play just fine.

[Frobby]

From what I've seen, (and for the record, I've only seem about a 1/3 of the Tides home games so far this season and none of the road games obviously) he looks to be at least a competent second baseman.

He's never going to be mistaken for Jeff reboulet, but he's not a butcher either. I heard before the season the knock on him was he was overweight and slow, but he seems like he's been pretty quick to balls so far this season and hasn't had any problem turning double plays.

And given how much better his bat is than Flaherty's, I'd fully support a move to bring him up.

Like I said, he's been hitting quite a bit at the minor league level and his numbers would probably be even better if he wasn't in such an extreme pitchers park. Even arrieta puts up good numbers pitching at Harbor Park because hardly anything leaves the yard.

Navarro could put up serviceable numbers at second in the majors and play decent enough defense that he'd be an upgrade over RF.

Given Buck and Dan's history of making moves to better the team, I wouldn't be surprised to see them pull the trigger soon. Can't let Flaherty fall below the .100 mark this late in the season and keep his job. It's just unacceptable for a team with aspirations like this one currently has.

"He's never going to be mistaken for Jeff Reboulet" has to be one of the best unintentional insults I've ever heard, though it's fair to say Reboulet was an above average defender. But so long as Navarro's reasonably close to average defensively, it will soon be worthwhile to see if his hitting will translate to the majors this time around (unlike in his previous major league stints). They already have Casilla for those times when they opt for defense over offense.