The Offense

[Herman]

No, I'm more than fine with rational and well-thought-out criticism. But complaining without solutions, or even a list of suggestions, shows me that you don't know if there was a plausible solution, much less if it was achievable. You've shown me nothing that indicates DeAza wasn't the best solution for the Orioles.

13 strikeouts and 1 walk through 9 games. He swings and misses too much and doesn't shorten his swing with 2 strikes. De Aza was a nice pickup last year b/c he fills the defensive void in left field while adding speed to the order, but he is not a leadoff hitter. Not to be rude but a lot of you have to take off the blinders.

[DrungoHazewood]

Leadoff hitters are no longer a species. Sadly, they too are like the Black Rhino.

I think they're more like knuckleballers. They'll always exist, but there are so few players who have excellent on-base skills, speed, and not quite enough power to bat third that they're often very hard to come by.

[DrungoHazewood]

13 strikeouts and 1 walk through 9 games. He swings and misses too much and doesn't shorten his swing with 2 strikes. De Aza was a nice pickup last year b/c he fills the defensive void in left field while adding speed to the order, but he is not a leadoff hitter. Not to be rude but a lot of you have to take off the blinders.

Not to be rude (or maybe I am, but whatever), but since you refuse to answer the question I'll assume that you don't even have a suggestion for anyone who'd be better than De Aza.

[Herman]

Assume no one is available for trade of the assets you wish to dispose of.

Improving sounds great. To plug what you consider a hole, the Orioles would have to open another one up by trading some player assets or by trading prospect assets or by paying huge FA dollars. Perhaps you wanted to sign Michael Bourn when he was available?

They are in a position to win RIGHT NOW and the AL East is vulnerable. I can't believe that a lot of you are content with the leadoff situation smh. I remember I got yelled out for criticizing Chris Davis

[weams]

No, I'm more than fine with rational and well-thought-out criticism. But complaining without solutions, or even a list of suggestions, shows me that you don't know if there was a plausible solution, much less if it was achievable. You've shown me nothing that indicates DeAza wasn't the best solution for the Orioles.

They do not like the strike outs and they want a guy who walks and steals mad times bases.

[Redskins Rick]

Okay. First, do you expect De Aza's 1:13 walk to strikeout ration to continue? Secondly, what is your definition of a true leadoff hitter and name 3 players who fit your criteria.

8 runs in 8 games, seems like a leadoff hitter, getting on base and scoring is also part of the job description.

[weams]

They are in a position to win RIGHT NOW and the AL East is vulnerable. I can't believe that a lot of you are content with the leadoff situation smh. I remember I got yelled out for criticizing Chris Davis

No one yelled at you. And no one will give you credit now for trashing him.

[Redskins Rick]

They do not like the strike outs and they want a guy who walks and steals mad times bases.

Only because you cant complain about OPS or scoring runs, you have to cherry pick what you want to complain about.

[El Gordo]

For starters, my measure is someone who strikes out less than De Aza but has better speed than Markakis. Brian Roberts pre 2010 would have been an ideal leadoff hitter for this team. He could play small ball, work the count, foul off tough pitches and steal while still being capable of hitting a lot of doubles. De Aza does some of those things as did Markakis.

My contention is that this team is in the position to win right now. The leadoff hitter was an obvious spot that needed improvement and it doesn't look like they addressed it. Are you honestly comfortable with the current leadoff situation and how it will likely project for the entire season?

I doubt you will find a pre 2010 Brian Roberts level #1 hitter in MLB today. Even if you did he would be hard to acquire and not worth the price. But that was not my question What is you minimum. Obviously a .336 OBP was not good enough. I don't know what SO have to do with hitting lead off. For me OBP, P/PA, RS, are the most important numbers followed by SB%. But let me add, I don't value that spot in the line up all that much. He rarely hits leadoff more than once or twice. And yes I am quite happy with the combination of De Aza and Cabrera so far.

[weams]

Okay. First, do you expect De Aza's 1:13 walk to strikeout ration to continue? Secondly, what is your definition of a true leadoff hitter and name 3 players who fit your criteria.

It does not matter. That is not the only way to determine a successful guy to start the game. One time. Only. The only advantage to batting there is the the additional annual at bats. Not all teams need to be speedy and pesky.

[backwardsk]

De Aza has 13 strike outs and 1 walk through 9 games. Pearce normally bats in the middle of the order and now you want him to bat 1st? Come on. Machado would be a reasonable option but I think he is better served batting where he has been.

That's my point, the O's don't have a leadoff guy on their roster now. Having a guy hit out of position like they did with Markakis is an option but it isn't necessarily the solution.

Name one team that has a lead off guy that's scored more runs in the first inning of games this season than the Orioles.

Pearce mostly batted second last year. Great OBP. No reason he couldn't hit lead off.

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[wildcard]

They've had 6 years to find a leadoff hitter

You are not going to like this answer but the fact is the O's have other priorities.

1) First priority is stay in budget. 110m last year, 120m this year. Nothing gets in the way of that. The O's don't extend players that don't fit that mold. Nick, Nelson, Miller, Johnson, Reynolds all got too expensive.

2) Keep the pitching. Then keep the pitching depth.

3) Home runs win in the AL. Its no accident that the O's have all these home run hitters. They trade for them, extend them when possible, develop them. Anything to have power.

So the fleas as Earl Weaver would call them are down the list of priorities. That is not to say that if a low cost, high OBP guy that can steal bases comes available they would not try to get him. Its just not the highest thing on their list.

[weams]

Pearce mostly batted second last year. Great OBP. No reason he couldn't hit lead off.

Or Chris Davis. He'd be more patient!

[weams]

You are not going to like this answer but the fact is the O's have other priorities.

1) First priority is stay in budget. 110m last year, 120m this year. Nothing gets in the way of that. The O's don't extend players that don't fit that mold. Nick, Nelson, Miller, Johnson, Reynolds all got too expensive.

2) Keep the pitching. Then keep the pitching depth.

3) Home runs win in the AL. Its no accident that the O's have all these home run hitters. They trade for them, extend them when possible, develop them. Anything to have power.

So the fleas as Earl Weaver would call them are down the list of priorities. That is not be say that if a low cost, high OBP guy that can steal bases comes available they would not try to get him. Its just not the highest thing on their list.

Cabrera is the most that we would invest in that type of baseball.

[DrungoHazewood]

3) Home runs win in the AL. Its no accident that the O's have all these home run hitters. They trade for them, extend them when possible, develop them. Anything to have power.

Scoring more runs the opposition wins games. But with the resources on hand when Duquette took over, the environment, the budget, the availability of players, it was the most direct path to develop a team based on defense and power instead of high OBP.