Interview with Marc Topkin/Tampa Times on Beckham

[wildcard]

2 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

Like the booted ball between his legs last night ...The home run was irrelevant after the defensive miscue.

Well, Tillman had dug the hole.  Beckham just made it deeper.

[mdbdotcom]

After the Orioles blew the '79 World Series (losing the last three games after being up 3-1) a writer for the Village Voice said that if shortstop Kiko Garcia (who put up a 1.029 OPS during the series) had won the Corvette that came with being named World Series MVP, he would have dropped the keys in short left field. 

Beckham is like Kiko Garcia, but with more power.

One other note: in a thread about Rickard's defense, a poster noted that Joey made a catch against the Rays in right field and doubled up the runner on first base. Guess who that runner was.

[Ruzious]

Personally, I'm shocked that the O's didn't get a 5 time all-star under 25 for a 2016 6th round pick who's probably at least 4 years from making a major league team.  

[NCRaven]

4 minutes ago, Ruzious said:

Personally, I'm shocked that the O's didn't get a 5 time all-star under 25 for a 2016 6th round pick who's probably at least 4 years from making a major league team.  

Then Duquette tried to flip him to the Astros but they made their top 57 prospects off limits for a trade.  Damn Angelos! 

[Il BuonO]

1 hour ago, Roll Tide said:

Agreed that Gentry is an automatic out ....Smith is having a good year and lefties and Gentry isn't hitting against anybody ...Bad managing by Buck IMO

You're saying this after he had two hits, scored two and stole 3rd base twice?

[25 Nuggets]

1 hour ago, El Gordo said:

So far he's been as advertized. Maybe the change to play SS everyday will help him stay focused. that seems to be his problem. Keeping his head in the game.

Maybe he can talk to Chris Davis about scoring some adderall.

[Roll Tide]

20 minutes ago, Il BuonO said:

You're saying this after he had two hits, scored two and stole 3rd base twice?

Don't care he still needs to look up to see the Mendoza line. One game doesn't change that

[Beef Supreme]

1 hour ago, Roll Tide said:

Like the booted ball between his legs last night ...The home run was irrelevant after the defensive miscue.

Players commit physical errors. It's the nature of the beast. Even sure-handed JJ Hardy has committed some head-scratching errors this season. What we hope is that Beckham won't be committing many mental errors, as Topkin is suggesting his fatal weakness is. 

[Tony-OH]

3 hours ago, Tx Oriole said:

Good grief. The guys been playing pretty for the O's I think. 

So what does that have to do with the posted interview? I think this gives us a great glimpse into why the Rays traded him to a rival in the middle of a wild card race. I found this part interesting:

Quote

 

Charming when he wanted to be, there was chatter Beckham wasn't respectful of support staff and didn't take criticism well. He seemed to be available a lot more for interviews when he starred than when he failed.

And there was his play on the field, which was probably best described as erratic. Or heart-breaking. He would do several good things to help the team then a really bad one that hurt.

Just this weekend in New York, he was involved — to different degrees — in three different head-scratching bad plays, the result of bad communication and/or decision-making.

 

I think we've already seen this with Beckam out of position on a throw to second base on a close play and of course the ball that went between his legs that should have ended the inning. But we've also seen what he looks like when he's good offensively hitting four extra base hits in his first three games.

The good news it appears his teammates love him so whatever problems he's had with the media of the team leadership when things are not going well, he seems to want to play hard now and his teammates appreciate that about him.

Now for me, I don't think he's going to be consistent enough for Buck at SS and when Hardy returns, Buck will put JJ back out there, especially if the Orioles are in some kind of contention. That means he's going to sit and we've already heard he tends to sulk when not starting and that was one of the reason the Rays traded him to begin with.

So far he's looked great with the bat, but his track record suggests when it gets ugly it will get real ugly then if the Orioles miss the playoffs and Tobias Myers keeps climbing the ladder fans will start wondering why Duquette sacrificed a good young arm for a streaky mediocre middle infielder.

[esmd]

Meh, he's an improvement over Hardy and Tejada, so I'm not complaining.  I don't think buck puts JJ back out there, but we'll see.  Beckham is obviously the SS next season with his contract status.  We'll see though.

[spiritof66]

Thanks for posting this. In talking about Beckham as our likely SS, keep in mind that we may be looking for a 3Bman pretty soon as well.

I haven't seen the reaction of Rays' fans to trading Beckham. Has somebody gathered them all in a room to ask them?

[ORIOLE33]

4 hours ago, wildcard said:

No,  I don't think so.  Jones, Davis and Manny are pretty good in the clutch.   This sounds different.

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

 

[Can_of_corn]

12 minutes ago, spiritof66 said:

Thanks for posting this. In talking about Beckham as our likely SS, keep in mind that we may be looking for a 3Bman pretty soon as well.

I haven't seen the reaction of Rays' fans to trading Beckham. Has somebody gathered them all in a room to ask them?

I didn't see Dick today when I went to the grocery.

I don't think the other Rays fan I know noticed.

[ORIOLE33]

I have a question.

Why are a few hell bent on finding some dirt or throwing shade on Beckham? I could care less why the Rays got rid of him. All I know is that he has raked in the short time he's been an Oriole. Will he remain this hot? NO! But he's hot right now. Maybe he needed a change in scenery. It happens.

I swear, some of you are too attached to "our guys."

[Bird Dog]

3 hours ago, Ruzious said:

Personally, I'm shocked that the O's didn't get a 5 time all-star under 25 for a 2016 6th round pick who's probably at least 4 years from making a major league team.  

I agree, wow, this guy's gonna have a hard time being an " Oriole".