4 O's players that have played well enough to stick but will not....

[Beef Supreme]

Sure, if that's what you're arguing. But I'd assume range is quite a bit more important than arm.

It's good for the occasional ball he might catch. But some balls can't be caught no matter how fast a player is. What happens on a base-hit with runners on? What happens with a lazy flyball with a runner tagging on third? As a late-inning replacement at COF, throwing is vitally important. Unless you want to play Avery in CF, I don't see improvement in defense over Reimold.

It's hard to compare the defense of a guy who has played almost exclusively in the minors with a major-league player. I can't foresee Avery playing COF at the major-league level for any team.

[wildcard]

You can disagree all you want but good teams don't play .575 bats unless they're just totally out of options. Brendan Ryan is Paul Janish with a better glove and bat and he's a 25th man who might get 100 PAs a year.

Ryan has not been in the minors for 20 games/year since 2007. The O's have Flaherty for that position. The O's need someone they can keep in the minors and call up for injuries. That is not Ryan.

[Aristotelian]

Stop it. No we don't. Janish is 35 with a career OPS that even Cesar Izturis sneers at. Good teams simply don't have players like Janish on the team. This isn't 1968. Even most bad teams wouldn't keep Janish on the 25-man roster. There will be a dozen players released in the coming days who would be better to keep over Janish because the difference in their defensive abilities will be so small compared to the enormous, Pacific Ocean deep dichotomies in their ability to hit minor league pitching, much less big league pitching.

The era of baseball that says it's ok to keep a guy who can catch the ball but can't hit it out of a suburban backyard (when they hit the damn ball at all) is over. It's done. That era died decades ago. Please people, realize it.

Then what is your plan for SS/3B if more than one of JJ, Manny, and Schoop get hurt?

[thezeroes]

Then what is your plan for SS/3B if more than one of JJ, Manny, and Schoop get hurt?

You do not build your Twenty-Five man Roster for that type of issue (multiple IF injuries) you build your Forty and Norfolk Roster for the contingency Plan. IMO

[Ruzious]

I don't get the fascination with Janish. He's a 33 year old SS who had an OPS of .584 in the minors last year. And he's got a lifetime .574 ML OPS in about 1,200 plate appearances. There's zero use for him unless Hardy or Flaherty get injured.

[DrungoHazewood]

Then what is your plan for SS/3B if more than one of JJ, Manny, and Schoop get hurt?

Davis to third, Alvarez to first, Flaherty to SS/2B, warm body to UI, and the sports shrink from The Natural to the clubhouse.

[DrungoHazewood]

Then what is your plan for SS/3B if more than one of JJ, Manny, and Schoop get hurt?

Does anyone have a clear plan for good players to step in after multiple injuries? What do the Yanks do if Gregorius and Headley go down at the same time? What do the Sox do if Pedoria and Xander collied and both break bones? What happens to the Jays when both Tulo and Donaldson get the plague?

[Redskins Rick]

Does anyone have a clear plan for good players to step in after multiple injuries? What do the Yanks do if Gregorius and Headley go down at the same time? What do the Sox do if Pedoria and Xander collied and both break bones? What happens to the Jays when both Tulo and Donaldson get the plague?

Lynn Sakata moved to catcher, Gary Roenicke moves to 3nd, Lowenstein plays 2nd

[Aristotelian]

You do not build your Twenty-Five man Roster for that type of issue (multiple IF injuries) you build your Forty and Norfolk Roster for the contingency Plan. IMO

Right...but we don't have anyone in AAA at the moment, and we have an open spot on the 25 and 40 if we are getting rid of Kim (which it sounds like we are).

[Ruzious]

Lynn Sakata moved to catcher, Gary Roenicke moves to 3nd, Lowenstein plays 2nd

Decinces to 3rd, Billy to SS, and Eddie to 2B.

[thezeroes]

Right...but we don't have anyone in AAA at the moment, and we have an open spot on the 25 and 40 if we are getting rid of Kim (which it sounds like we are).

At the moment we do have Janish at AAA until he decides to Opt Out.

[DrungoHazewood]

People occasionally say this, basically that Janish or Paul Bako or Cesar Izturis or whomever's bat doesn't matter. Only the glove. The truth is the whole package is all that matters. Janish is 33 and has a .575 OPS. His career wRC+ is 55, or 16 points lower than Mark Belanger. I can pretty well guarantee Janish's glove isn't 16 points better than Mark Belanger's.

You can hit poorly enough to easily negate your defensive strengths. No matter your role.

Following up on this... 100 points of OPS is roughly 20 runs per year. Varies a little, but that's a decent rule of thumb. So if you have two utility infielders, one with a .575 OPS and one with a .675 the weaker hitter needs to be about +20 with the glove to be equivalent. 20 runs on defense is a lot of runs. That's the difference between Manny and bad 3B like Sandoval or Lawrie. Or JJ Hardy and the worst regular SSes in MLB.

Bat matters for everybody.

[El Gordo]

Following up on this... 100 points of OPS is roughly 20 runs per year. Varies a little, but that's a decent rule of thumb. So if you have two utility infielders, one with a .575 OPS and one with a .675 the weaker hitter needs to be about +20 with the glove to be equivalent. 20 runs on defense is a lot of runs. That's the difference between Manny and bad 3B like Sandoval or Lawrie. Or JJ Hardy and the worst regular SSes in MLB.

Bat matters for everybody.

No doubt but not as much for a UTIF who gets maybe 150 PA at most. That's more like 5R.

[billhatf]

Looks like Flaherty starting in left tonight ...

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[DrungoHazewood]

No doubt but not as much for a UTIF who gets maybe 150 PA at most. That's more like 5R.

I suppose you could make the case that at the 150 PA level nothing really matters. Odds are that 1/2 of a win isn't going to separate you from glory.