Navarro sent to the Tides

[wildcard]

The Orioles leads all of baseball with a 790 OPS. 13 points better than the next team. Meanwhile they can't stop the other team from scoring. Promoting Flaherty has everything to do with improving the team defense and nothing to do with what kind of offense Flaherty can provide. O's management believes that the the rest of the team can carry Flaherty's bat.

Clearly, Buck hates Navarro's defense at 2nd base.

http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp?c_id=bal#playerType=ALL&elem=%5Bobject+Object%5D&tab_level=child&click_text=Sortable+Team+hitting&game_type='R'&season=2013&season_type=ANY&league_code='MLB'&sectionType=st&statType=hitting&page=1&ts=1369856226157&sortColumn=ops&sortOrder='desc'&extended=0

[TiredofLosing20]

Except that with Flaherty in the lineup you're essentially going by NL rules, with a .100 "hitter" killing the offense.

I strenuously object to this idea that you can carry a flat-out zero bat for months, but a slightly shaky glove gets you demoted after a week. It's management by emotion. Navarro's glove might have cost the team a run or three, while Flaherty's bat was (and may continue to be) over-the-top terrible. His .286 OBP in Norfolk is another indication he's not a MLB hitter.

I can't argue with the rest of your post but the bolded is simply not true. I think it is management by valuation. I believe Buck/DD believe Flaherty's glove is a significant upgrade over Navarro and is more valuable than the delta between what Navarro's bat has provided and what they think Flaherty can provide. Buck says all the time, hitting isn't enough, you have to field. Whether he is overvaluing fielding and/or undervaluing hitting can be debated. The fact is the offense is pretty good and was even with Flaherty's bat in it. Further, I don't think his Norfolk offensive numbers were really even considered, it was more just icing.

All of that said, its not a move I would make. Doesn't seem to me that Navarro was given enough time.

[Can_of_corn]

The Orioles lead all of baseball with a 790 OPS. 13 points better than the next team. Meanwhile they can't stop the other team from scoring. Promoting Flaherty has everything to do with improving the team defense and nothing to do with what kind of offense Flaherty can provide. O's management believes that the the rest of the team can carry Flaherty bat.

Clearly, Buck hates Navarro defense at 2nd base.

http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp?c_id=bal#playerType=ALL&elem=%5Bobject+Object%5D&tab_level=child&click_text=Sortable+Team+hitting&game_type='R'&season=2013&season_type=ANY&league_code='MLB'?ionType=st&statType=hitting&page=1&ts=1369856226157&sortColumn=ops&sortOrder='desc'&extended=0

Pretty sure that is the pitching not the defense at second. Tigers do OK with their infield defense.

[Tony-OH]

Exactly .286 OBP. I thought DD was trying to emphasis OBP?

Buck has some sort of fixation with Flaherty and I hope it doesn't stop them from acquiring a legitimate second baseman in the future.

This makes no sense whatsoever to me. Obviously Navarro is not a Buck kind of guy. Navarro's dWar was 0.2 so far so it's not like he was a butcher defensively. I really don't know what the Orioles are up to now a days. Navarro was batting .320 with a .370 OBP and a .770 OPS before his 0-for-3 last night. Flaherty has a .286 OBP and saw just 3.69 pitches per plate appearance, and struck out eight times to one walk in 35 PAs in Norfolk so it's not like he was lighting things up. He looks like the exact guy we sent down.

Flaherty was playing a solid second base for the Orioles when he was sent down, but it's not like he's so much better than Navarro statistically speaking. Flaherty had a 0.3 dWar in 30 games to Navarro's 0.2 in 8 games. Rumors were that Navarro was not a good clubhouse guy in the past. I wonder if something else occurred here because Flaherty seems like the same guy we sent out and Navarro has at least be solid since coming up. BTW, Navarro had three multi-hit games out of his eight. Flaherty hasn't had a multi-hit game the entire season and only has four in his entire major league career.

:scratchchinhmm:

[TiredofLosing20]

I agree. This makes no sense whatsoever. Obviously Navarro is not a Buck kind of guy. Navarro's dWar was 0.2 so far so it's not like he was a butcher. I really don't know what the are Orioles up to now a days. Navarro was batting .320 with a .370 OBP and a .770 OPS before his 0-for-3 last night. Flaherty has a .286 OBP. saw just 3.69 pitches per plate appearance, and struck out eight times to one walk in 35 PAs. He looks like the exact guy we sent down.

Flaherty was playing a solid second base for the Orioles when he was sent down, but it's not like he's so much better than Navarro. Flaherty had a 0.3 dWar in 30 games to Navarro's 0.2 in 8 games. Rumors were that Navarro was not a good clubhouse guy in the past. I wonder if something else occurred here because Flaherty seems like the same guy we sent out and Navarro has at least be solid since coming up. BTW, Navarro had three multi-hit games out of his 8. Flaherty hasn't had a multi-hit game the entire season and only has four in his entire major league career.

:scratchchinhmm:

This would definitely make more sense.

[RichmondOsFan]

Even if Navarro is a clubhouse cancer, I do not see any sense in bringing back Flaherty so quickly as the replacement. Brandon Wood is actually hitting the ball at Norfolk; and despite his infamous reputation as a flailer, he has right about the same number of K's as Flaherty, but in twice as many at-bats. Hoes, Pridie, Ishikawa haven't earned a shot before Flaherty gets his fifth or sixth? Yikes.

[wildcard]

Pretty sure that is the pitching not the defense at second. Tigers do OK with their infield defense.

The Orioles are not the Tigers. Navarro did not turn double plays that should have been turned causing the pitchers to throw unnecessary pitches. He made 2 errors that were actually charged to him and several that weren't in 8 games. Flaherty made no errors in 30 games.

This is a move to improve the team defense IMO. That is more important to O's management than a few point of the teams offense. The O's are trying to lower the number of pitches the pitchers need to make.

[Dr. Unk]

I just threw up a little.

[Can_of_corn]

The Orioles are not the Tigers. Navarro did not turn double plays that should have been turned causing the pitchers to throw unnecessary pitches. He made 2 errors that were actually charged to him and several that weren't in 8 games. Flaherty made no errors in 30 games.

This is a move to improve the team defense IMO. That is more important to O's management than a few point of the teams offense. The O's are trying to lower the number of pitches the pitchers need to make.

One defender is not causing the pitching problems and replacing one defender is not going to cure them. I will also argue the "few points" of offense. Flaherty was a black hole on offense.

[wildcard]

One defender is not causing the pitching problems and replacing one defender is not going to cure them. I will also argue the "few points" of offense. Flaherty was a black hole on offense.

Buck will explain the move before the game. Just wait.

[Rene88]

Is this thing about the Orioles having Strop field grounders for real??

[Tony-OH]

One defender is not causing the pitching problems and replacing one defender is not going to cure them. I will also argue the "few points" of offense. Flaherty was a black hole on offense.

He was literally the worse hitter in MLB when they sent him out. I guess 8 games of mediocre numbers in AAA has fixed that? I've watched the vast majority of games with Navarro at second base and I didn't get the feeling that he was butchering things over there.

[Can_of_corn]

Buck will explain the move before the game. Just wait.

No he won't. He won't give any real reasons and the media won't call him on it.

Manager speak. "We decided that Flaherty gives us the best chance of winning." "He made some real progress at Norfolk and feel his bat is coming around"

[Can_of_corn]

Is this thing about the Orioles having Strop field grounders for real??

It's a drill.

Don't worry about it.

[UpstateNYfan]

D doesn't matter if the ball is hit out of the park. To say Flaherty saves the game Sunday if he was here is ridiculous. That was JJ's job. Nice deflection though. I don't have a strong opinion either way, but I am always amazed at the love and patience certain players get here and the opposite for others. That seems to be Buck too, certain players are above reproach, others should have made the play or a better pitch.