New Fangraphs article "The Orioles Stars and Scrubs Problem"

[weams]

Correct. But let's not kid ourselves, there's a reason those guys signed 8-figure contracts and Urrutia signed for an $800 k bonus.

No question. No question. Puig is a combination of Mike Trout and Len Dykstra. Cespedes is as good a fastball hitter as Adam Jones.

[25 Nuggets]

I'll put it this way: as constructed, the players who would play DH could very well all finish with a positive WAR score, but that will be largely driven by their play in LF/whatever. Buck prefers to manage that way - have everyone spend at least some time in the field. If you combine all of said players' production as a DH however, the team will have close to a zero WAR, perhaps negative, because the batting standards are higher.

Last season, Billy Butler put up a .787 OPS in Kansas City and earned the Royals 1.5 rWAR as a full time DH. Can the Orioles get around a .750 combined OPS out of their DH at bats? That would be close to a zero rWAR I think.

[Can_of_corn]

Cespedes and Puig did not have to sit in Haiti for a year. After having to sit out the previous year because of a failed attempt to get here. I met Henry the day after he arrived in the USA. He was quite thin. Last time I saw him, he appeared to have gain 25 lbs.

That might be why I used the phrase "to a degree" to modify the rest of the sentence.

I think folks might be making too large an allowance for the inactivity.

At the end of the day I think he turns out to be a better story then ballplayer.

[weams]

He's no good at counting zeroes?

He had not been permitted to play for over a year by the time we signed him and his best years were spent trying to get here. You don't pay a kings ransom for that.

[scOtt]

I think if Hank is given 120 games, he will be a 1 WAR player. But even more accurately, since we have no idea whether any of those guys would ever pick up a glove, I suspect Henry will hit .320 with an OBP of .360 and a .730 OPS.

In spite of his D.

[weams]

That might be why I used the phrase "to a degree" to modify the rest of the sentence.

I think folks might be making too large an allowance for the inactivity.

At the end of the day I think he turns out to be a better story then ballplayer.

True. Man can hit. Whether he can hit with power at the MLB level will be something we see soon.

Bernie Pleskoff after watching him in the AFL

When watching Baltimore Orioles outfielder/designated hitter Henry Urrutia play in the Arizona Fall League, I couldn’t help but be reminded of former New York Mets star Darryl Strawberry.

The left-handed hitting Strawberry, 6-foot-6 and 190-pounds, played in the major leagues from 1983 until 1999.

Known for his powerful home run swing, Strawberry’s best home run year was 1988, when he blasted 39. He finished with a career batting average of .259.

Urrutia has the same tall, slender look of Strawberry. He is 6-foot-5, 200-pounds. Like Strawberry, he hits left-handed.

At one point, Urrutia was a switch-hitter. He has concentrated his efforts to hitting exclusively left-handed.

Urrutia, a native of Cuba, is 26-years old. He played last season, his first in this country, at three classifications. He began at Double-A Bowie, moved to Triple-A Norfolk, was promoted to the parent Orioles, returned to Norfolk and was called back to Baltimore as a September call-up.

Urrutia hit a combined .347 in 347 Minor League plate appearances.

He hit a very respectable .276 in his brief 58 trips to the plate playing for the Orioles.

Watching Urrutia in the recently concluded Arizona Fall League, he appears to be on the verge of a major breakout as an impactful left-handed hitter. Especially if he is used exclusively against right-handed pitching, where he is the most dangerous and seems to thrive.

Urrutia finished the fall with the third best batting average in the league, hitting .377 in 18 games and 69 at-bats.

Urrutia hit one of the longest homers during the Fall League season. It was a tremendous shot far over the wall in dead center field. It was one of his three home runs. He also had three doubles among his 26 hits.

He only struck out eight times, a figure among the lowest in the league relative to the number of his plate appearances.

Like Strawberry, Urrutia has a sweet, almost picture-perfect, level swing. He doesn’t have extraneous movement before the pitch, and his extension and follow-through are outstanding.

Again, not unlike Strawberry, Urrutia has lightning quick hands through the ball. They aren’t as fast as Strawberry’s, as Strawberry had some of the best bat speed I have ever scouted.

Urrutia is a line-drive machine. The ball jumps off his bat with that great barrel of the bat sound. He hits the gaps with regularity.

If he adds a bit of loft to his swing, he may get the distance and backspin to clear the fence more often. But why tamper with a swing that is so sound? He should leave well enough alone.

[Orioles0615]

In spite of his D.

This could go in the out of context thread.

[25 Nuggets]

A .730 OPS minus a .360 OBP means a .370 slugging %. Will Urrutia's slugging be only ten points higher than his OBP?

Here's my prediction if he plays a significant portion of the season - .295/.315/.380 for a .695 OPS.

[weams]

A .730 OPS minus a .360 OBP means a .370 slugging %. Will Urrutia's slugging be only ten points higher than his OBP?

Here's my prediction if he plays a significant portion of the season - .295/.315/.380 for a .695 OPS.

I was really showing how he could be quite valuable without power as a large component. Obviously I think he has some.

[25 Nuggets]

Hey man, if he ends up like Darryl Strawberry I think we'd all take that at DH. :laughlol:

[Hallas]

That's a lot going right, nothing going wrong, and no injuries.

My opinion is that, for your 'core' you shouldn't consider 50th percentile performance, because 50 percentile bears some significant injury risk that severely dampens the projection. If the O's signed Choo and Tanaka, and failed to make the playoffs because Wieters and Chris Davis got injured and missed 100 games each, no one would complain because it would be obvious that we missed the playoffs because of injuries or ineffectiveness from core guys. Because the other parts are more interchangeable and volatile, and because as a GM you won't be able to say something like, "oh well losing Troy Patton to injury/suspension/etc. proved to be an insurmountable obstacle for us" at the end of the season, I think you have to use the lower 50th percentile projection point for everyone else.

[weams]

True. Man can hit. Whether he can hit with power at the MLB level will be something we see soon.

Bernie Pleskoff after watching him in the AFL

Bernie Pleskoff has been a professional scout for the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners.

[scOtt]

True. Man can hit. Whether he can hit with power at the MLB level will be something we see soon.

Bernie Pleskoff after watching him in the AFL

I think Straw still has the longest HR ever at OPACY. Dead center off the black facade.

[25 Nuggets]

Bernie Pleskoff has been a professional scout for the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners.

When they were good or when they stunk

But seriously, good article, brings some optimism with it.

[weams]

I think Straw still has the longest HR ever at OPACY. Dead center off the black facade.

When they were good or when they stunk

But seriously, good article, brings some optimism with it.