Roberts first game back at OPACY - Applaud or Boo?

[weams]

And despite being accused of "bias" I have also stated that I wouldn't boo him.

I did boo him in New York. And many of the Yankee fans understood why.

[Can_of_corn]

Whatever! I stand by my opinion on bias.

Care to provide any rational as to why I would be biased against a man I have never met?

Or is this just a baseless accusation?

I am honestly intellectually curious why someone would think that I had a prejudice against the man.

[weams]

Just one more thing. Brian Roberts. Slides Head First. As a Yankee. He no longer protects his head when playing second base.

[OFFNY]

When I made my post, I had not read the O.P., just the title.

Now that I have read the entire O.P. ........

Adam Jones is THE KING of (paraphrased)

"I'm tired of hearing questions about the Yankees and the Red Sox. I don't play for the Yankees and the Red Sox. I play for THE ORIOLES. So if you are going to ask me questions about baseball, ask me about THE ORIOLES."

If the man who bleeds Orioles orange and black through and through, and makes it clear how tired he is of being asked questions about our more publicity-driven rivals says that Brian Roberts should have his due, well then ...... maybe he should have his due.

P.S. I would give Roberts "his due" for his very first plate appearance in tonight's game.

After that, he's just another player on an opposing team.

[Can_of_corn]

Just one more thing. Brian Roberts. Slides Head First. As a Yankee. He no longer protects his head when playing second base.

Good for him. Glad he feels secure enough to do so. Hope he stays injury free.

[mark_beckens]

Or is this just a baseless accusation?

Me, I don't appreciate the way he rushed himself back in 2012. He was trying his best but was a tremendous hindrance to the team when he was on the field. To me it was a clear case of putting himself before the team.

Baseless accusation, like this one? Let me guess, double standard rules apply since Roberts doesn't post here and can't defend himself.

[DrungoHazewood]

How dare you accuse me of bias.

It's the numbers.

You don't put up those numbers with his pedigree if you are "ready to play" at the mlb level.

The O's were in a pennant race and my guess is he wanted to help. He came back early and did more harm then good.

You're really going to let 17 games in 2012 overwhelm your opinion of Roberts' career? It's not like Buck stuck him in the lineup batting first for three months, while relegating some clearly superior regular to the bench. He played the equivalent of a little over two weeks, sending Robert Andino (.588 OPS), Rule 5er Ryan Flaherty (.617 OPS), and Steve Tolleson (.537 OPS) to the bench or Norfolk. They spend a couple weeks seeing if he was ready to play because they had a huge hole at second, pretty sure they were never prepping for a full season of -10 WAR play. Didn't work out, they moved on to more of Robert Andino.

[weams]

I'm sure he feels healthier than he has in years and deemed it ok to do that. Maybe he would have this year as an Oriole, we don't know. The fact that we cannot know makes this statement meaningless, IMO.

Sure bud. Sure. You win.

[Dipper9]

Foolish about what? Any fanboy is likely a fanboy because he was an exciting player for a bunch of years. #1. And that's inarguable.

#2, at least publicly he was a charitable guy, moreso than most on the team during his good years. So how are we foolish? Especially when we are not privy to Tony's knowledge. We therefore cannot be foolish. Ignorant of some facts, sure, but that's 99% of all baseball fans regarding any baseball player. The media have more insight. I find it interesting that we fanboys are foolish despite not having access to the full information.

Yeah, it sucked about the steroids, but he still handled it better than 90% of the other guys that got popped around that time.

I agree with this and its my only issue in all this BRob stuff. I feel like being called a "fanboy" is disrespectful in some ways. I mean, yeah, I'm a fan. I don't work for the team and I don't work for baseball, so the fact that I follow these guys for 3-6 hours a day makes me nothing more than a fan. And as a fan, why would I not cheer for a guy like Brian Roberts, who up until the injury was what we want from our players, at least from what we could see. The fact that I don't know what he did or does behind the scene shouldn't have any effect on my liking of him, or any player, so to be called out as a "fanboy" feels insulting.

Other than that, this issue comes down to you either liked and respected Roberts for his complete career as an Oriole, or you can't get past the final four injury riddled years and thus you feel nothing about him. Either way is fine by me.

[Can_of_corn]

Baseless accusation, like this one?

That isn't baseless. It is based on his production.

Despite your wishes I found evidence that Roberts had some impact on when he returned and I guess that irked you.

[Norfolk orioles]

Give the man a standing O for crying outloud!!!

He was the ONLY good part of a horrible decade.......the guy hustled and busted his hump for a decade for a horrible team full of scrubs and losers.

It's not his fault we decided to move on at second base. Give him his standing O and then root like hell for him to strike out every single at bat the rest of the year.

[mdmcoupe]

HOLY COW, i have to get an office job! 10 pages in 2.5 hours starting at noon on a friday. Not much going on at work.....????

Yes, im jealous ...... :hearts:

[Can_of_corn]

You're really going to let 17 games in 2012 overwhelm your opinion of Roberts' career? It's not like Buck stuck him in the lineup batting first for three months, while relegating some clearly superior regular to the bench. He played the equivalent of a little over two weeks, sending Robert Andino (.588 OPS), Rule 5er Ryan Flaherty (.617 OPS), and Steve Tolleson (.537 OPS) to the bench or Norfolk. They spend a couple weeks seeing if he was ready to play because they had a huge hole at second, pretty sure they were never prepping for a full season of -10 WAR play. Didn't work out, they moved on to more of Robert Andino.

The only thing that stopped it was further injury.

To me, 2012 resonates more strongly then him putting up good numbers during bad years. It just does. I wasn't suggesting anyone else feel the same way. It doesn't mean I have any personal animus toward the man.

[Dipper9]

Give the man a standing O for crying outloud!!!

He was the ONLY good part of a horrible decade.......the guy hustled and busted his hump for a decade for a horrible team full of scrubs and losers.

It's not his fault we decided to move on at second base. Give him his standing O and then root like hell for him to strike out every single at bat the rest of the year.

I'm a fan of Brian Roberts, but even I won't say he hustled and busted his hump for a decade. If ANY player could be accused of dogging it, especially on grounders to the infield, it was BRob, even in his best years! For comparison, watch Adam Jones run out a grounder, and then watch BRob trot to first.

[mark_beckens]

That isn't baseless. It is based on his production.

Despite your wishes I found evidence that Roberts had some impact on when he returned and I guess that irked you.

Using 17 games of production from a player who had missed 2+ years out of 3 to prove your point is beyond idiotic.