Taking a Flyer on Jason Botts?

[JTrea81]

Troy Tulowitzski 464

Robinson Cano 459

Orlando Cabrera 588

Placido Palanco 598

David Ortiz 600

Jack Cust 625

Travis Hafner 642 OPS

Using your "logic" all of these guys and many more should be benched and any player under 28 behind them in that team's system with an OPS above 650 should start in front of them. Tell me more, Obi Wan

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting?sort=OPS&split=0&league=mlb&season=2008&seasonType=2&type=reg&ageMin=17&ageMax=51&minpa=0&hand=a&pos=all&qual=true&count=158

None of those guys are 36 and tanked the second half of the season in 2007.

[El Gordo]

It isn't as simple as saying they would "revolt". I realize that you like to reduce everything to a binary function, but most things are shades of gray rather than black or white. I'm positive they wouldn't agree with the decision and it would go over like a lead balloon. I'm positive the next time Trembley talked about team over individual stats that some of them would tune him out. I'm positive Trembley and AM would lose respect in the clubhouse.

What you're suggesting is completely different than them trading Millar to a contender for prospects and picking up somebody because you have an open spot. That wouldn't be a great thing for the guys, but they would understand that somebody has to start, Millar went to a good situation, and we picked up something that may help us later for him. It is completely different.

VAtech, it's hopeless, you stuck your finger in the tar baby.

[JTrea81]

Neither is Kevin Millar. His second half OPS was 740 last year or 60-80 higher than what Jason Botts has been able to produce thus far in his career. How about if you start using stats rather than things like "tanked" to described things since it appears that you have a sliding scale for evaluating performance based on how much you like a player?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/splits?playerId=3820&type=batting&year=2007

It's not that I'm picking on Millar, but he's a weak link on this team and Trembley has put him in a position where we can't have a weak link. He's one of the worst cleanup hitters in baseball but would probably be okay batting 7th or 8th. Removing his bat from the lineup does not make us worse by any means. And it's not like he wouldn't get playing time, he'd have a role similar to Payton and Payton is getting plenty of ABs...

I just don't see this team suddenly taking a nosedive because Millar was no longer starting 7 days a week...

[RShack]

It's not that I'm picking on Millar, but ...

<img src=http://www.howtoguides365.com/how-to/know-someone-lying/know-someone-lying.jpg></img>

[REDMAN]

Botts is a player who needs steady at bats to be productive.Will he get the at bats with the orioles?He could put up decent number as a starter {20hrs,80rbi,270ba}if giving the chance and the confidence of his manager.Watch his swing and tell me he cannot play.

[Sports Guy]

BTW, do you have any idea how ridiculous the first sentence of this post looks when you're trying to convince people Millar is done based on 96 at bats? So, 275 at bats OUT of 275 at bats in the majors is a small sample size for Botts but 96 out of 4000 isn't a small sample size for Millar? WOW

Have you even acknowledged the possibility that Millar could be done?

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying he is but it wouldn't surprise me if he was. He is walking less and showing limited power.

[mikezpen]

Botts is a player who needs steady at bats to be productive.Will he get the at bats with the orioles?He could put up decent number as a starter {20hrs,80rbi,270ba}if giving the chance and the confidence of his manager.Watch his swing and tell me he cannot play.

There is no reason why he shouldn't be given the at-bats in Baltimore. This lineup is loaded with weak-hitting, declining veterans who should be sitting anyway.You have nothing to lose by giving Botts and opportunity. So it aggravates Millar and Mora to sit and disrupts "team chemistry" So what.That "chemistry" w/b gone the first 5-15 stretech the team has.

[Hank Scorpio]

Have you even acknowledged the possibility that Millar could be done?

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying he is but it wouldn't surprise me if he was. He is walking less and showing limited power.

He has played good defense and he looks about the same to me at the plate.

I'll have to use your sample size argument on you here, SG. I don't know what you classify as "done," but while Millar is no legit cleanup hitter, he's likely not "done." He's just going through a rough spot. If he's sputtering like this come the end of June, then maybe you'd consider it... but you don't have enough evidence to make a proclamation yet, IMO.

Edit : I'd rather see Botts out there, I guess.... but is he really any sort of long term solution?

[mikezpen]

How do you know unless...?

We DO know that Millar isn't.

[Dr. FLK]

He has played good defense and he looks about the same to me at the plate.

I'll have to use your sample size argument on you here, SG. I don't know what you classify as "done," but while Millar is no legit cleanup hitter, he's likely not "done." He's just going through a rough spot. If he's sputtering like this come the end of June, then maybe you'd consider it... but you don't have enough evidence to make a proclamation yet, IMO.

Edit : I'd rather see Botts out there, I guess.... but is he really any sort of long term solution?

To me, it looks like Millar is swinging at a lot of garbage this year. I think he's really pressing in hopes of getting "hot".

[NewMarketSean]

Just think how sad the players would be when Millar is gone. No more grab-assing, no more flattened brims. No more Orioles Magic being played in the clubhouse. Surely that is worth more than a player with a 700+ OPS.

[BaltimoreTerp]

You're talking as if these are just parts you plug into a machine, and then throw them out a get another part from the used parts heap. That's fantasy baseball, not real baseball. DT has an Actual Team to worry about. You don't go benching main guys after a month and start playing musical chairs with garbage from other teams, going through rejects until somebody doesn't do terrible. That doesn't build a winning attitude. That's the exact opposite of what rebuilding a winning atmosphere means. If these guys are playing with their heads high in August, a lot of it will be due to stuff you don't see in stats. Running through scrubs who nobody else wants isn't gonna help anything, and it'd hurt the important things that stats can't see. AM should only get guys who he actually wants to have here.

You know what builds a winning atmosphere? Winning.

I guarantee if we were in last place eight games under .500 already our clubhouse wouldn't be singing Kumbaya like they are now.

I want a long-term winning team. Kevin Millar will NOT be a part of that. Jason Botts may not be a part of that, but he has a better chance. And if not, the next guy might be, or the next guy.

Clubhouse chemistry is bull. You can win with bad chemistry, but you can't win with bad players who are "good in the clubhouse".

[BaltimoreTerp]

Just think how sad the players would be when Millar is gone. No more grab-assing, no more flattened brims. No more Orioles Magic being played in the clubhouse. Surely that is worth more than a player with a 700+ OPS.

Tell Botts to bring his own stereo

[BaltimoreTerp]

BTW, do you have any idea how ridiculous the first sentence of this post looks when you're trying to convince people Millar is done based on 96 at bats? So, 275 at bats OUT of 275 at bats in the majors is a small sample size for Botts but 96 out of 4000 isn't a small sample size for Millar? WOW

Millar is nine years older.

Wow.

[mikezpen]

Agree, Terp.