Is there hope for internal improvement on OBP?

[Frobby]

Here are the low-OBP guys from last year (which I define as anyone at .310 or lower):

Lough .241 -- gone

Cabrera .250 -- gone

Hardy .253 -- nowhere to go but up, but he's likely to stay sub-.300.

Parmelee .255 -- gone

Parra .268 -- gone

De Aza .277 -- gone

Flaherty .281 -- likely to stay there

Pearce .289 -- gone

Young .289 -- gone

Joseph .299 -- likely to stay in that vicinity

Schoop .306 -- improved a lot last year, could see some more improvement but also could regress

Jones .308 -- could rebound a little but likely to stay within .010 of that.

Paredes .310 -- was dropping the entire second half and is a candidate for regression.

There are 1206 PA for players who are not returning and had sub-.310 OBP's, plus you have Paredes who had 384 PA and may not make the team and/or may have a much more limited role. On the other hand, Davis had the highest OBP on the team at .361 in 670 PA. Trumbo, who will pick up most of those PA if Davis is gone, has a career .300 OBP (.310 in 2015).

I don't expect any drastic improvement from the returning players who were drags on the OBP last year, so we'd better focus on finding some decent OBP guys for the corner OF and the bench.

[Orange]

Joey Rickard, baybee!

[weams]

Joey Rickard, baybee!

Jerome O'Bryan "L. J." Hoes

[mdbdotcom]

Jerome O'Bryan "L. J." Hoes

I hope Coolbaugh can help Hoes learn how to adjust to major league pitching.

[sportsfan8703]

I hope Coolbaugh can help Hoes learn how to adjust to major league pitching.

Flaherty, Paredes, and Urrutia is where Coolbaugh can really help. Of course you can say that about every player but mainly those three plus Hoes. All of them have shown flashes and seem really close to figuring it out. Just need some adjustments.

[Frobby]

I'm a believer that Hoes can post a respectable OBP. But he still may have trouble cracking .700 OPS due to his lack of power. It will be interesting to watch him and Rickard compete for a spot.

[LA2]

Is it widely assumed that Pearce won't be back?

If Reimold cracks the lineup and stays healthy, he helps the OBP.

[Orioles4Life21]

Wow. I forgot how terrible Hardy was this past season...

[Camden_yardbird]

Austin Jackson makes too much sense for this team.

[Babypowder]

Wow. I forgot how terrible Hardy was this past season...

There were several pitchers in the NL who hit better than Hardy this year.

Small sample size, but still.

[mdbdotcom]

Austin Jackson makes too much sense for this team.

Because he's right-handed, plays CF, and hasn't put up a good OBP since 2013?

[Aristotelian]

We have been asking the same question for the last three years. I doubt it. Any increases will be incremental and probably offset by declines. If we replace Davis with Trumbo, that is an additional gap that needs to be filled. We really haven't had a decent team OBP since 2009, when you had Robert and Markakis in their prime.

[weams]

Austin Jackson makes too much sense for this team.

Isn't he right handed?

[El Gordo]

Very little hope unless Manny puts up a .600 OBP to make up for the rest.

[Orange]

Very little hope unless Manny puts up a .600 OBP to make up for the rest.

Can't tell if serious.