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Michael Morse "almost certain" to join the Orioles (Update: Acquired for Avery))


Greg

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Sano was years ago. Has nothing to do with this.

We could put the saved million in a special rainy day fund for future times when we are battling to outbid the Twins and Pirates over a prospect. Then each time we don't sign a retread we could eventually build up enough to sign the next one.

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I much prefer Morse to Willingham- he won't cost nearly as much in prospects and he won't be under contract for 7 million next year as a 35 year old DH with knee problems.

Plus it gives us the inside track on signing him on the cheap for next year which could work out well since he's much more likely to bounce back.

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I have a different feeling about this than some of you.

I think morse has been injured all year, playing on a crappy team in a pitchers park. Bringing him to Camden yards and putting him in OUR lineup will give him some big time opportunities to produce.

Think Chris Davis power, light tower power. His long outs in Seattle will be home runs in Camden yards. He'll have protection in the lineup.

And most importantly, he can take markakis place in left field if he continues to produce NOTHING and can play 1b if we want to DH Davis and give him a day off. He can find a way into our lineup without benching Valencia.

I think a lineup against lefties with morse in rf and Valencia DH'ing is going to give us a chance to put a nice stretch run together.

I'm sorry, but we can't keep ignoring how bad markakis is. Bench him and start morse. I can live with a little shoddy defense if morse is going to provide light tower power in Camden yards, I really can.

Or move McLouth to right and keep morse in left. Either way, we've gotta try something to get back in this. 1 mil and a mediocre prospect are fine by me on the off chance we catch lightning in a bottle with morse.

He tore it up in Washington. Maybe coming back east will be good for him. Seattle is a really strange place. Yeah I know, I'm looking for anything. Why not though?

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Markakis hasn't been too terrible against righties, with a .750 OPS in 376 PA (.281/.346/.404/.750), though this is still a bit weak for a corner outfielder. The more serious problem is against lefties, where he's got a .589 OPS in 203 PA (.257/.296/.293/.589). That 203 PA is the most on the team against lefties, ahead of Davis (189), Machado (188) and Jones (170), and is what really drags down Markakis's overall stats (.272/.328/.364/.692). For the last thirty games, I wouldn't play him against lefties - which works out nicely for Morse, a righty.

Any thoughts on why Markakis has been so poor against lefties this year? Or can 203 PA be SSS? Most noticeable is he doesn't hit lefties for power (0 HR, 7 DBLS, .293 SLG vs. lefties; 9 HR, 14 DBLS, .404 SLG vs. righties) or draw walks (10 walks, one every 20.3 AB, .293 OBP vs. lefties; 35 walks, one every 10.74 AB, .346 OBP vs. righties) - and the lack of walks seems unlike Markakis.

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At this point, 203 is no longer a SSS.

We need to step up and make a run and batting markakis against lefties is not going to help get us there, but platooning morse with markakis and also at DH is going to upgrade us significantly at the plate.

I really hope this move goes through.

The only place Morse is going to be platooning is at DH as he's a terrible defender in the OF. He doesn't get on base (.282 OBP) and that OBP is driven purely by batting average as he doesn't like to take walks.

We have far too many hitters that are overaggressive and will not take walks and would rather try to hit the ball out of the ballpark. Valencia is likely a better RH bat in that regard to Morse as he'll at least see some pitches and take what the pitcher gives him.

If you want to upgrade the DH position, you need a bat more like a Jim Thome, somebody that is going to work the count and get on base to provide a change of approach to the lineup. Josh Willingham is a much better target for this need.

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Or move McLouth to right and keep morse in left.

And every player in the league sans Molina will go first to third on a hit to right. Half the doubles to right become triples. Sorry for derailing, but McLouth's arm is worse than his hair. That said, I really like McLouth as a player.

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And every player in the league sans Molina will go first to third on a hit to right. Half the doubles to right become triples. Sorry for derailing, but McLouth's arm is worse than his hair. That said, I really like McLouth as a player.

I agree, but I'm sorry, markakis defense and arm isn't that great either.

And his bat is killing us.

We're not playing in the Oakland coliseum, morse wouldn't have to cover that much ground in right field.

Plus, unlike the markakis of today and the McLouth of today, morse still has a howitzer.

I'm sorry, but considering rosters are expanding, there is absolutely a place on our team in September for morse. Don't know how anyone could argue otherwise at this point provided the price isn't too steep.

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The only place Morse is going to be platooning is at DH as he's a terrible defender in the OF. He doesn't get on base (.282 OBP) and that OBP is driven purely by batting average as he doesn't like to take walks.

We have far too many hitters that are overaggressive and will not take walks and would rather try to hit the ball out of the ballpark. Valencia is likely a better RH bat in that regard to Morse as he'll at least see some pitches and take what the pitcher gives him.

If you want to upgrade the DH position, you need a bat more like a Jim Thome, somebody that is going to work the count and get on base to provide a change of approach to the lineup. Josh Willingham is a much better target for this need.

I wouldn't call that a fair representation. Morse has had five seasons in which he got a decent number of plate appearances (greater than 55) and in those his OBP has been .349, .352, .360, .321, and .283, the last four continuously spanning 2010 through the current season. No, he doesn't walk much, but the O's are clearly eyeing something else: the career .479 SLG and .816 OPS (121 OPS+).

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The only place Morse is going to be platooning is at DH as he's a terrible defender in the OF. He doesn't get on base (.282 OBP) and that OBP is driven purely by batting average as he doesn't like to take walks.

We have far too many hitters that are overaggressive and will not take walks and would rather try to hit the ball out of the ballpark. Valencia is likely a better RH bat in that regard to Morse as he'll at least see some pitches and take what the pitcher gives him.

If you want to upgrade the DH position, you need a bat more like a Jim Thome, somebody that is going to work the count and get on base to provide a change of approach to the lineup. Josh Willingham is a much better target for this need.

Not to mention Willingham is seeing 4.23 p/PA this season (vs. Morse at 3.82, not bad by any stretch).

But in fairness to Morse, he has a .267 BABIP this season, which is a remarkable .066 points below his career mark of .333. The single worst BABIP he's posted in his career next to this season was 2009's .303 BABIP.

His 17.3% HR/9 would rank 4th on the team (Behind Jones, Davis and... Valencia? How about that?) and his ISO of .184 would tie him with Hardy for 4th on the team.

My preference for Morse hinges on the fact that he's relatively cheap in comparison to Willingham. Particularly since Willingham is owed $7m for next season and will be 35 before the 2014 season even begins. Not sure the extra $ and commitment is worth what I consider a marginal upgrade from Morse to Willingham.

We'll known by 1pm Friday morning though, either way!

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