Snider pinch hitting for Joseph tonight

[gmelson26]

The Orioles have about an average offensive outfield. Oriole RFers are 22nd in wOBA, a bit below average, but still ahead of the Yanks, Red Sox, Reds, Rockies, Pirates, Padres, and Phils. Their LFers are 17th in wOBA, just a few points below average and miles ahead of teams like the Angels and A's and Nats. And of course with Jones handling almost all of the CF duties they're .001 points from leading the majors in offensive output from center. And the O's and Braves have gotten an almost identical 0.3 wins out of their RFers, only with the O's doing it for a tiny fraction of the Braves' budget.

So, actually, it could get a lot worse. The O's are 12th in the majors in total production from their outfield, roughly three wins better than the White Sox, Rockies, and A's. And about a half win better than Nelson Cruz' Mariners.

Factoring in one of the best CFers in the game muddies the water for the purpose of discussing the corners.

Both corner positions are offensively producing at below average levels. So looking at wOBA and the corners, there are only 2 teams that have worse total production from both corners: the Phillies and the Red Sox. So realistically, it cannot get much worse. We're already 3rd worst in the majors. I don't know, at the moment, if the Phillies and Red Sox get better defense out of their corners, but de Aza, Snider, and Young aren't exactly setting the world on fire defensively.

[DrungoHazewood]

Factoring in one of the best CFers in the game muddies the water for the purpose of discussing the corners.

Both corner positions are offensively producing at below average levels. So looking at wOBA and the corners, there are only 2 teams that have worse total production from both corners: the Phillies and the Red Sox. So realistically, it cannot get much worse. We're already 3rd worst in the majors. I don't know, at the moment, if the Phillies and Red Sox get better defense out of their corners, but de Aza, Snider, and Young aren't exactly setting the world on fire defensively.

Could the O's improve the offensive output at left and right fields? Sure. But the team is roughly the 7th-best performing offense in the league and their outfield is about average in the Majors in offensive output. De Aza, Young, Pearce, and Snider will probably perform better, as a group, as the season progresses and the Orioles' team numbers will improve with them. So you can continue to believe that almost anything would be better than the current situation, but I'll disagree.

[El Gordo]

Factoring in one of the best CFers in the game muddies the water for the purpose of discussing the corners.

Both corner positions are offensively producing at below average levels. So looking at wOBA and the corners, there are only 2 teams that have worse total production from both corners: the Phillies and the Red Sox. So realistically, it cannot get much worse. We're already 3rd worst in the majors. I don't know, at the moment, if the Phillies and Red Sox get better defense out of their corners, but de Aza, Snider, and Young aren't exactly setting the world on fire defensively.

This is a head scratcher. According to bbR RF is .315 .359 .413 .772 . I think you'll find that is well above league average. What puzzles me is how that happens when every one of the RF options is hitting under a .700 OPS. It must be that Buck is using the right match ups in RF but not doing such a good job with LF.

[BirdinBama]

I wasn't as upset with that move as much as I was with Davis and Pearce both called out LOOKING at strike 3 in the ninth.

[Babypowder]

I wasn't as upset with that move as much as I was with Davis and Pearce both called out LOOKING at strike 3 in the ninth.

To be fair, Davis got called out looking at ball 4.

[DrungoHazewood]

I wasn't as upset with that move as much as I was with Davis and Pearce both called out LOOKING at strike 3 in the ninth.

I'm not going to say that Pearce and Davis both were executing some kind of Ted Williams plan at the plate, but it's perfectly legitimate to approach your at bats with the idea that you're only swinging at stuff you can hit well. If you're looking for a type of pitch in a zone and you get another one you're almost certainly better off taking than getting in the habit of punching the ball to the shortstop because you're afraid of being the guy who struck out looking.

[El Gordo]

De Aza has a 1.071 OPS in RF in 22 AB's. .577 OPS in LF in 66 AB's

Snider is .908 in 39 AB's in RF. .555 in 26 AB's in LF.

I think that's called randomness.

What are Pearce and Young's splits in RF?

[ShaneDawg85]

I wasn't as upset with that move as much as I was with Davis and Pearce both called out LOOKING at strike 3 in the ninth.

Davis did a heck of a job to get to that point, fouling off several pitches, and taking several pitches before strike three that could have been called strikes. Hate the result, but not the approach.

[Dipper9]

Seems like Joseph would have had a better chance of swinging hard and catching one. Snyder looks like Luke Scott without power right now. Either was a so-so option.

I would have taken Luke Scott over any other option we had.

But barring a walk off 3 run blast, we had Navarro on deck with again no better options. Even a Snyder/Joseph base hit would have ended in a 4-3 loss, in my opinion.

We need Wieters and Schoop and (I can't believe I am saying this) even Flaherty back just so we can improve our bench options late in games.

[25 Nuggets]

I like him too but the last years of his contract would be an anchor around the

neck of the O's. IMO

That would be sad if true. "Only" $2.1 million this year with one arbitration year left.

[DrungoHazewood]

That would be sad if true. "Only" $2.1 million this year with one arbitration year left.

I think he was talking about Cruz, and his $14.5M/year through 2018 when he'll be 38. I doubt $14.5M would be an anchor, but at a 36-, 37-, 38-year-old's likely production it wouldn't be helpful.

[sportsfan8703]

I would have taken Luke Scott over any other option we had.

But barring a walk off 3 run blast, we had Navarro on deck with again no better options. Even a Snyder/Joseph base hit would have ended in a 4-3 loss, in my opinion.

We need Wieters and Schoop and (I can't believe I am saying this) even Flaherty back just so we can improve our bench options late in games.

Why? Schoop and Flaherty are good now. If they were both healthy we would be saying to give Flaherty a shot in LF/RF.