Should Austin Hays be Orioles 2018 Starting RF?

[Diehard_O's_Fan]

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2017/10/are-the-orioles-ready-to-turn-over-right-field-to-austin-hays.html

[Bahama O's Fan]

Maybe not "give" it to him, but give him every opportunity to lose it in Spring Training, if that makes sense.

[oriole]

It's either that or Mark Trumbo, right? I'll take Hayes.

[Luke-OH]

20 minutes ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

Maybe not "give" it to him, but give him every opportunity to lose it in Spring Training, if that makes sense.

I think this is the correct answer.

[interloper]

4 minutes ago, phillyOs119 said:

I think this is the correct answer.

Yeah, duke it out with Santander and Rickard in ST. I hope Duquette avoids signing another Seth Smith type. 

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, interloper said:

Yeah, duke it out with Santander and Rickard in ST. I hope Duquette avoids signing another Seth Smith type. 

No to Rickard.  His glove improved to the point where I can live with him as a 5th outfielder but no way should he be starting, I don't care how good a spring he has.

[Sanfran327]

No... he should be the starting CF (if he earns a starting spot on the ML roster in ST).

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Sanfran327 said:

No... he should be the starting CF (if he earns a starting spot on the ML roster in ST).

I don't think he is likely to be appreciably better than Jones in Center.  Be a lot easier to put him in Right and hope Mullins continues to develop.

[Sanfran327]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

I don't think he is likely to be appreciably better than Jones in Center.  Be a lot easier to put him in Right and hope Mullins continues to develop.

I'm surprised to hear you say that, honestly. He seems much faster than AJ, and his routes should continue to develop with more experience. I'd also give him the nod in arm strength. 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Sanfran327 said:

I'm surprised to hear you say that, honestly. He seems much faster than AJ, and his routes should continue to develop with more experience. I'd also give him the nod in arm strength. 

Going off the scouting reports I have read more than what my eyes told me in a handful of games.  I'm sure you could put him out there, but with Mullins hopefully ready by 2019 I'd rather not upset the apple cart for little if any gain.

[Il BuonO]

10 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Going off the scouting reports I have read more than what my eyes told me in a handful of games.  I'm sure you could put him out there, but with Mullins hopefully ready by 2019 I'd rather not upset the apple cart for little if any gain.

You’d get appreciably more than a “little gain” with many people compared to Jones. It’s time he moved.

[Tx Oriole]

48 minutes ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

Maybe not "give" it to him, but give him every opportunity to lose it in Spring Training, if that makes sense.

I think he should. I'd rather it be Hays than for DD to bring in someone from another team. But I don't trust DD to do what's best for the team and its future. Nor do I trust Buck to do what's best either. 

[Tx Oriole]

31 minutes ago, interloper said:

Yeah, duke it out with Santander and Rickard in ST. I hope Duquette avoids signing another Seth Smith type. 

No to Rickard. I've had enough of him.

[Luke-OH]

19 minutes ago, Sanfran327 said:

I'm surprised to hear you say that, honestly. He seems much faster than AJ, and his routes should continue to develop with more experience. I'd also give him the nod in arm strength. 

23 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't think he is likely to be appreciably better than Jones in Center.  Be a lot easier to put him in Right and hope Mullins continues to develop.

I think he's better than Jones at this point in CF.  Enough better that it's worth trying to move Jones to RF, I don't know.  I do know that if Hays makes the team, Buck should give Jones regular rest games and let Hays shift over to center in those games.  

Mullins is better defensively than any Orioles OF right now.  If his bat didn't have potential, I'd say put him on the team as a defensive replacement 5th OF.  However, he does look like he could profile as a regular with more developmental time, so I wouldn't want to hurt that by having him on the bench.

[Il BuonO]

I guess I don’t get the hatred for Rickard. His +10 DRS is very good, especially for a 4th OF. He’s well below average on offense but that shouldn’t matter if he’s used primarily as a defensive replacement. And he has options.