Infield moving forward ... anyone else as excited as me?

[bpilktree]

Mullins has really struggled the 2nd half of the season.  I think he still has time to learn and I am still not sold on him hitting enough in the majors.  I think Stewart has made more strides then a lot of people give him.  He should hit 20 homers in Bowie with a high OBP. 

[sportsfan8703]

I'm excited if we keep Manny and Schoop and sign some SP. The bullpen and lineup looks set for next year and most of our prospects will be in AAA. 

[Going Underground]

I think Mancini and Beckham fade a little offensively next year.Beckham really needs to work on his defense. The thing the Orioles needed this year will be the same next year.Starting pitching. 

[OrioleMagic79]

59 minutes ago, Tx Oriole said:

You want to depend on Rickard for LF? He is only a backup. IMO 

Not necessarily, I was just thinking that we have to ride out Trumbo and/or Davis and that would mean Rickard would be in place until one of the younger guys is a better option than he is ... which could be sooner rather than later ... but we also have to understand that not every one of these younger guys will pan out, because that's just the way it goes ...

I would love to see Hays/Santander take his place, and Mancini take an OF position as others have mentioned, while Davis is at first and Trumbo can DH until we can dump him or his contract runs out ... I guess my thought was not just next season, but painting a picture as some of these other things play out (Trumbo leaves for a salary dump or contract runs out, etc.)

I thought we only have Beckham through the end of next season, but if we have him under control for three more years, then I agree there is no need to extend him yet ...

[Tx Oriole]

2 minutes ago, Going Underground said:

I think Mancini and Beckham fade a little offensively next year.Beckham really needs to work on his defense. The thing the Orioles needed this year will be the same next year.Starting pitching. 

I am hoping that Beckham will be good at SS next year with an offseason to work on his defense. In another post someone said that JJ Hardy was working with Beckham. Now I don't know if that's true or not. But if JJ could work with Beckham it would help. Wish JJ would become a coach with the O's. As for Mancini I sure hope he is the real deal. The team can use young players like him. I guess he could take a step back. Of course I've never seen him play. Only what I read about him on the OH. 

 

[NCRaven]

1 hour ago, bpilktree said:

Mullins has really struggled the 2nd half of the season.  I think he still has time to learn and I am still not sold on him hitting enough in the majors.  I think Stewart has made more strides then a lot of people give him.  He should hit 20 homers in Bowie with a high OBP. 

I think that the outfield has great potential in the future because of the quantity of quality.  Hays, Santander, Mullins, Stewart, Mancini and Mountcastle (if we re-sign Manny or Mountcastle can't make the transition to 3B) could all be potential above average to very good major league outfielders.

[Frobby]

On 8/22/2017 at 0:52 PM, Three Run Homer said:

 

The number two problem with our lineup going forward is that Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo are signed to white-elephant contracts 

I often see these two contracts lumped together, but I really don't see them as remotely comparable.    Trumbo has 2/$26 mm remaining and will be 33 when his contract expires.    Davis has 5/$115 mm remaining and will be 36 when his contact expires.    I know Trumbo has had a down year, but there's a reasonable chance that he'll be worth close to what we'll pay him in 2018-19, and then he'll be gone. There's pretty much no chance Davis will be worth what we pay him, and he'll be a major drag on payroll for half a decade.    

[Pheasants]

I've seen this a couple of times: 
Why would we play Mancini in the outfield and DH Seth Smith? While Smith has been in right lately, he had played left and isn't he the better fielder?

[Rick_Schu]

The infield defense is a joy to watch, including Well Done Wellington throwing out 50% of would be base stealers.  A lot of pressure on Beckham to play up to the level of the other guys around the infield 

[Ruzious]

16 minutes ago, Pheasants said:

I've seen this a couple of times: 
Why would we play Mancini in the outfield and DH Seth Smith? While Smith has been in right lately, he had played left and isn't he the better fielder?

Smith seems very average in the OF to me.  My impression from watching both is that he's no better than Mancini in LF.   Smith irritated me one time by not hustling after a ball that landed barely in foul territory.  And with Mancini, I never have to worry about him not hustling.  Smith's a free agent after this season, and I don't expect he'll be back.     

[NCRaven]

Beckham made two more errors and was thrown out stealing with Manny Machado at the plate (happened with Seth Smith too and Manny hit solo home runs right after both baserunners were gunned down.  Argh...).

Like the enthusiasm and don't doubt that he has some "want to."  But he really needs to clean up the defensive side of his game.

[TheDeau52]

On 8/22/2017 at 1:10 PM, sportsfan8703 said:

I'm excited if we keep Manny and Schoop and sign some SP. The bullpen and lineup looks set for next year and most of our prospects will be in AAA. 

I share your optimism. But to play devil's advocate, that's a pretty big "if". I sure as hell hope we do. 

Speaking of prospects, when do we think Harvey might come up? End of next season? 2019? This is assuming he continues looking as good as he is right now. Harvey, Bundy, and Gausman have the potential to be a pretty strong top of the rotation. Don't remember the last time we had 3 starting pitchers of that (potential) caliber.

[Ruzious]

3 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

Beckham made two more errors and was thrown out stealing with Manny Machado at the plate (happened with Seth Smith too and Manny hit solo home runs right after both baserunners were gunned down.  Argh...).

Like the enthusiasm and don't doubt that he has some "want to."  But he really needs to clean up the defensive side of his game.

When Beckham got thrown out, there were 2 outs, and Manny had a 1 and 2 count on him.  It was a low ristk time to steal, because Manny was behind, and Beckham was the only base-runner - on 1st.  Manny got a fresh count the next inning, and that might have contributed to him hitting the homer.  

[NCRaven]

2 hours ago, Ruzious said:

When Beckham got thrown out, there were 2 outs, and Manny had a 1 and 2 count on him.  It was a low ristk time to steal, because Manny was behind, and Beckham was the only base-runner - on 1st.  Manny got a fresh count the next inning, and that might have contributed to him hitting the homer.  

Good point.

[Cumberbundy]

Davis is a great defensive 1B imo. That said, I'm incredibly excited about the future. When I detail my frustration with trades it's largely based on the loss of cheap comparable arms and the impact that has on our chances of keeping this group together. The cheap cost controlled rotation would give us a much better opportunity to keep Manny & Schoop together until I'm older than old. I love these guys.