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Will Mora Be This Season's OH Tejada?


Old#5fan

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The point is, most third baseman would have done the same thing.

I agree with you about Mora but this just isn't a good example.

Besides, its one play...Even Brooks made stupid decisions and errors...It hasppens to everyone.

I agree on anyone can have a bad play from time to time, but I saw too much of this from Melvin last year as well. In other words this simply isn't an isolated or rare instance of a botched slow roller. He was prone to doing it last season as much as Tejada was at bungling routine DP balls.

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I'm not ready to get sour on Mora. I still like him and hope he has a solid season. I am a little nervous about him being in the 2 spot though. Maybe we'll get lucky and Jones will get comfortable real quick and can take over the role.

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Rushing the play and totally bungling or botching the play like Mora did yesterday are two different things. You have to be mentally disciplined not to even divert your attention at all to the runner but focus on picking up the ball as quickly and smoothly as possible. Mora, like a dunderhead, focused on Crawford which was simply the worst thing to do.

With that being said I don't necessarily think Mora needs to go but he needs to be moved from third if he continues to struggle with those types of plays. Those plays should be made 9/10 times not 5 or 6 out of 10 like Melvin does. To me if he cannot make those plays 90% of the time at a minimum I want a better third baseman period.

Actually Mora was focusing on the runner coming home not Crawford. What position did you play when you, played if you played?

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Mora should be the SS or the super UTI guy and Moore should starting at third.

In a perfect world you are right. I even agree. However if there is even 20% chance to trade Mora this season for a couple of prospects(C type) then we got to let him start.

If Mora begins to struggle mightly thru late May and we got no trade prospects then moving him to Super Utility is a good idea.

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Mora should be the SS or the super UTI guy and Moore should starting at third.

Mora is 36 with one inning at shortstop since 2003.

The Orioles have changed managers three times since he played the position, so I'm reluctant to accept that putting him there now would be good for the team.

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Mora is 36 with one inning at shortstop since 2003.

The Orioles have changed managers three times since he played the position, so I'm reluctant to accept that putting him there now would be good for the team.

I agree. Mora at SS would be an unmitigated disaster.

No problems with making him a utility guy though. Get him two starts a week at 3B, one at 2B (once Roberts is traded), one in LF, maybe one more at DH. He plays enough that he shouldn't be complaining (although I'm sure he will), it'll open up 3B for Moore to play 4-5 times a week, he'll get enough at bats to market himself to another team if he hits well enough, and showing off the versatility could get additional teams interested in him.

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I agree on anyone can have a bad play from time to time, but I saw too much of this from Melvin last year as well. In other words this simply isn't an isolated or rare instance of a botched slow roller. He was prone to doing it last season as much as Tejada was at bungling routine DP balls.

Yea...There is no doubt Mora struggles at this.

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Mora is 36 with one inning at shortstop since 2003.

The Orioles have changed managers three times since he played the position, so I'm reluctant to accept that putting him there now would be good for the team.

If they would have told Mora that he was going to SS this season and he played winter ball and had all spring to play there, i think he could have been passable enough at SS....I think that Mora at SS and Moore at third would be better than what we have now.

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If they would have told Mora that he was going to SS this season and he played winter ball and had all spring to play there, i think he could have been passable enough at SS....I think that Mora at SS and Moore at third would be better than what we have now.

I don't think there was any chance Mora could've turned himself into a passable SS simply by playing there in winter ball. He's below average at 3B. Players can move away from the middle of the diamond, but nobody ever moves towards it for a reason. SS is much more difficult to play than 3B. Mora doesn't have the range or the quickness to be passable there.

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I don't think there was any chance Mora could've turned himself into a passable SS simply by playing there in winter ball. He's below average at 3B. Players can move away from the middle of the diamond, but nobody ever moves towards it for a reason. SS is much more difficult to play than 3B. Mora doesn't have the range or the quickness to be passable there.

Not only what you wrote but if he's bad now (and he is) at charging weak grounders at third he would be simply horrible doing it at shortstop where normally more balls are played.

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I don't think there was any chance Mora could've turned himself into a passable SS simply by playing there in winter ball. He's below average at 3B. Players can move away from the middle of the diamond, but nobody ever moves towards it for a reason. SS is much more difficult to play than 3B. Mora doesn't have the range or the quickness to be passable there.

Mora would have been allowed only a limited amount of playing time in MLB (barring special permission) due to his status as a MLB regular in 2007.

More to the issue, when he was a shortstop, he fielded at a .960 clip vs. his league average of .972. Sure, errors aren't everything, but the way some people have their panties in a twist about his error yesterday, I'm happy for Melvin that we probably won't get the chance to belittle him for his efforts at short.

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I don't think there was any chance Mora could've turned himself into a passable SS simply by playing there in winter ball. He's below average at 3B. Players can move away from the middle of the diamond, but nobody ever moves towards it for a reason. SS is much more difficult to play than 3B. Mora doesn't have the range or the quickness to be passable there.

It would have been a better experiment than LH is.

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If they would have told Mora that he was going to SS this season and he played winter ball and had all spring to play there, i think he could have been passable enough at SS....I think that Mora at SS and Moore at third would be better than what we have now.

You're not talking in terms of defense are you. If you think Moore is an up grade over Mora at 3B, why not play Moore at SS. Or play Moore at 2B if it's just about getting him more AB's. The difference of Mora at SS over LH, given the didsater that his defense would be, might be 2-3 W's. Is it worth it to the development of the young pitching to sacrifice defense for a couple extra W's in a rebuilding year?

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It would have been a better experiment than LH is.

One thing about you I must admire. Your never ending desire to finda way for Hernandez not to play SS. You would over turn any rock, run any race, fly a million miles to find someone other than Luis.

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