JJ Hardy

[21xxxv]

Great teammate, and a true professional that gives all he has to the Orioles. especially good example for Jonathan and Manny.... With that said, he is batting .194, with a .515 OBS. That's hard to do. Further, he is a station to station base runner. I hope he can shake it. But to the eye he appears to be 34 going on 54years of age. Watching him move reminds me of Fred Sanford. Again. I sure hope I am wrong, and he heats up. This team is devoid of OBP guys, and if you aren't going to hit for power, as a middle infielder you need to do other things. Other than steady D' which has been his calling card... Sadly that has even escaped more times than he would like it this year, (I don't mean last night either) The Boston series in Fenway he looked on D' as if he was on Magic Mushrooms. I am curious as to when Janish, .742 Andino, .682 or Giavotella .820 get a sniff. They all have MLB experience. Making it unlikely is they all bat Right, and two of the three play 2B.

[Spy Fox]

I've realized that my offensive expectations of JJ have dropped so low that I don't even notice how poorly he's really doing. I'm so pleasantly surprised when he contributes that it turns out the contributions are the main thing I remember. 

But yeah, at those numbers he needs to be at true wizard levels in the field to still be valuable. I think for this year we're probably just going to have to ride it out. For Buck to take JJ out of the regular lineup I think his average would have to fall closer to .150 than .200.

[webbrick2010]

He is reminding me of Brooksie in his final years

Brooks had his last productive offensive season @ age 37 season when he managed to post a .728 OPS ableit with no power. He hit 20 HR's for the last time in his age 34 season. He then hung on for the next several years posting .541, .548, and than .467 in 1977 before retiring in May

JJ last hist 20 HR's in 2013 in his age 30 season. He managed a slight bounce back to a .716 OPS last year albeit with no power. Now he is at .515 to go with his .564 in 2015.

He is done. If the O's are in the pennant race or make the playoffs it will be interesting if they go with Hardy or try to make an upgrade

No doubt in my mind that he will retire after this season.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, webbrick2010 said:

He is reminding me of Brooksie in his final years

Brooks had his last productive offensive season @ age 37 season when he managed to post a .728 OPS ableit with no power. He hit 20 HR's for the last time in his age 34 season. He then hung on for the next several years posting .541, .548, and than .467 in 1977 before retiring in May

JJ last hist 20 HR's in 2013 in his age 30 season. He managed a slight bounce back to a .716 OPS last year albeit with no power. Now he is at .515 to go with his .564 in 2015.

He is done. If the O's are in the pennant race or make the playoffs it will be interesting if they go with Hardy or try to make an upgrade

No doubt in my mind that he will retire after this season.

In Brooks' defense he only hung around so long because he needed the money.  Some bad investments had put him in a financial bind late in his career.

[BohKnowsBmore]

Janish starting at Ss today

[capyy]

Hardy has always moved like he's 54

[BirdinBama]

Yeah, I have thoroughly enjoyed having JJ here for the same reasons stated in the opening post. That said, I cringe when he comes to the plate. It's hard to justify having him out there with that batting average. I still really like the guy!

[capyy]

I think Hardy makes the rest of the infield better. And who are you going to replace him with?

[OFFNY]

1 hour ago, webbrick2010 said:

 

He is reminding me of Brooksie in his final years

Brooks had his last productive offensive season @ age 37 season when he managed to post a .728 OPS ableit with no power. He hit 20 HR's for the last time in his age 34 season. He then hung on for the next several years posting .541, .548, and than .467 in 1977 before retiring in May.

JJ last hist 20 HR's in 2013 in his age 30 season. He managed a slight bounce back to a .716 OPS last year albeit with no power. Now he is at .515 to go with his .564 in 2015.

He is done. If the O's are in the pennant race or make the playoffs it will be interesting if they go with Hardy or try to make an upgrade

No doubt in my mind that he will retire after this season.

 

o

 

Robinson's final game was in mid-August.

 

o

[thezeroes]

1 minute ago, capyy said:

I think Hardy makes the rest of the infield better.

This is why he is playing as much as he is.

1 minute ago, capyy said:

And who are you going to replace him with?

If he is replaced the Orioles will need to eat his contract ($14 Million base) and pay his severance pay (option buy out) of $2 Million.  He is untradable because if he is the option year is automatically renewed by the receiving ball club which if the Orioles would have to pay a share of that. the base is $14 Million.

[JohnD]

The saddest thing is he has the weakest arm in the infield.  Davis keeps making scoops that bail him but you worry it may cost them at some point.  He isn't a liability but he isn't the strength he used to be.

[TradeAngelos]

Hardy is going nowhere as long as Buck is managing this team. 

And he is on pace for 604 PA, despite missing 3 games. So in theory he could miss 4 games the rest of the season and still hit the 600 PA. That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

 

 

[Dark Helmet]

Guys like Flaherty and Janish aren't good enough to make it worthwhile to remove Hardy from the everyday lineup. If your putting a guy like Mpuntcastle in and seeing what you have then ok. But neither Flaherty or Janish are improvements imo.

[FlipTheBird]

JJ seems... done. Last year he was certainly looking like he was entering the "twilight" part of his career, but this year he's just fallen off a cliff. It's tough to watch.

[TheEldestTorres]

I agree that internal options are weak in the short term, but if we make a trade, I hope to God it's for pitching and not for a stop-gap shortstop....