Orioles Interested In Neil Walker and Mark Reynolds

[Redskins Rick]

5 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

If he had played to the level of his actual ability he would have still had a much worse second half.  He was a prime candidate for regression.  Dan bought high.

Go find the thread for the trade, I talk about it all in excruciating depth.

I am still confused how Colorado gave him 8 mil a year.

[sportsfan8703]

58 minutes ago, Yardball85 said:

From memory, was that Snider, Pearce, et al?  Who else played RF that year?

De Aza, Dmitri Young. Maybe David Lough. Snider was more in LF. That was another season where everyone on the roster was a FA at season’s end. Didn’t work out so well. 

Thats why I’m in favor of having an actual good bench. We haven’t had too many of those pre-sept 1st in the Buck era. Walker gives us that lefty bat with a high OBP. I get why people like Beckham, he’s fast, plus he mashed his first month here. He’s a good guy to have, but he does have an erratic arm and only had like 4 XBH before getting traded to us last year. Walker would be a sneaky good signing. 

[atomic]

3 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Do you think you could get full value trading him in March when rosters are mostly set?

I guess you will get more if you wait until 2019 trade deadline.

[Morgan423]

On 3/4/2018 at 12:02 PM, Beef Supreme said:

I like Mark Reynolds, but what does he do that can help this year's team?

We've got it covered in spades in the front office... but I don't think Complacency has an ambassador out on the field for us so far this year.

And we all know that Mark Reynolds has all the experience needed to help us there.

[connja]

58 minutes ago, Morgan423 said:

I can't even imagine Davis, Trumbo and Reynolds hitting back - to back to back.  It would be absolutely awful to watch.

 

[Rene88]

On 3/4/2018 at 12:54 PM, El Gordo said:

Mark Reynolds at 3B is worse than Trumbo in RF.

Mark Reynolds T 3B is worse than El Gordo at 3B. Reynolds is the worst 3B I have ever seen.

[Carllamy]

14 minutes ago, Rene88 said:

Mark Reynolds T 3B is worse than El Gordo at 3B. Reynolds is the worst 3B I have ever seen.

Then you, my friend, don't remember watching Floyd Rayford play 3rd base for the O's. I, however, remember that.

 

Boy, just think about that. A team so good that somebody actually said "Man, we need Floyd Rayford's bat in this lineup to make it better. Let's play him at 3rd."

[Bahama O's Fan]

While Reynolds was bad at third, I have found memories and "The Toe" at first.

[sportsfan8703]

If we sign Reynolds, given the 1B depth we have, then something is up with Davis. 

[DrungoHazewood]

On ‎3‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 12:21 PM, Lucky_13 said:

Don't really get the point  of Reynolds at all. 

Someone has to get him 600 PAs a year so he can make a run at Reggie's record.

[DrungoHazewood]

7 hours ago, Carllamy said:

Then you, my friend, don't remember watching Floyd Rayford play 3rd base for the O's. I, however, remember that.

Boy, just think about that. A team so good that somebody actually said "Man, we need Floyd Rayford's bat in this lineup to make it better. Let's play him at 3rd."

I will caveat this by saying modern defensive metrics aren't everything, and traditional metrics are mostly a steaming pile of misinformation but...

Floyd Rayford was a -7 fielder in the equivalent of 180 games at third base.  Poor, but not exceptionally poor.  He fielded .936, and had 39 errors against 36 double plays.

Mark Reynolds has a -11 mark as a third baseman.  But he also had three separate seasons of 100+ innings at third where he fielded under .900.  In 2011-12 he was about as bad as a modern fielder is allowed to be.  In '11 he had a UZR/150 of -29, and in 2012 he doubled down on that and had a -49 in 142 innings before being mercifully was moved to first.  From World War II until today you can count the number of sub-.900 fielding seasons among regulars on one hand.  One was famously Butch Hobson in a season where he was trying to play through some kind of injury.  I believe that Reynolds' 2011 is the only such season since 1980. 

Yesterday I mentioned an obscure third baseman from the 1890-1910 era named Lave Cross, so I looked up his fielding percentages.  His career mark at third was .938.  So Reynolds literally makes errors at third at a higher rate than a guy from over a century ago wearing the equivalent of an oven mitt, on poorly maintained fields with guys constantly bunting at him.

Reynolds also has a career mark of 127 errors at third against 124 DPs.  In modern baseball an even ratio there is pretty poor.  Brooks, playing 50 years ago had better than a 2:1 ratio.  Melvin Mora, who was basically a utility player, had 138 DPs at third and 98 errors.

On a related note: Chris Davis, as an Oriole third baseman, has a fielding percentage of about .870 in a little over 300 innings.

[DrungoHazewood]

I was wrong... Ryan Braun's rookie year he fielded .895 at third and was immediately moved to the outfield and has never played an inning at third since.

In the 1980s the Dodgers kept trying to play Pedro Guerrero at third and he was pretty ugly.  In '88 they finally gave up after he fielded .895 in 44 games.

Ken Williams, the one who is/was (?) the White Sox GM, was a player in the 80s and early 90s.  Outfielder.  But in '88 they decided to make him into a third baseman for the first time in his professional life.  I guess they had too many outfielders.  He fielded .860 with 14 errors and 2 DPs in a couple months before they let him go back to the outfield for good.

Basically, what it boils down to, is that Mark Reynolds is about as good a third baseman as major leaguers trying out the position for the first time since grade school.

 

[DrungoHazewood]

One more... In 1871-75 what passed for MLB was called the National Association.  In 1873 Baltimore had two teams in this league, what modern sources list as the Canaries probably because their socks were yellow, and the "Marylands".  The Marylands were a bit in over their heads.  They joined the league probably on the strength of being able to pay the $10 entry fee.  They went 0-6 before disbanding.

But the Marylands make Mark Reynolds look good.  Real good.  Their team fielding percentage was 0.761.  They made 74 errors in six games.  They had an assist to error ratio of 73:74, and a DP to error ratio of 0:74.  Their second baseman, Marty Simpson, fielded .774.  Their third baseman, Henry Kohler, fielded .698.  It was a different era.  But Mark Reynolds might have felt right at home.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

One more... In 1871-75 what passed for MLB was called the National Association.  In 1873 Baltimore had two teams in this league, what modern sources list as the Canaries probably because their socks were yellow, and the "Marylands".  The Marylands were a bit in over their heads.  They joined the league probably on the strength of being able to pay the $10 entry fee.  They went 0-6 before disbanding.

But the Marylands make Mark Reynolds look good.  Real good.  Their team fielding percentage was 0.761.  They made 74 errors in six games.  They had an assist to error ratio of 74:73, and a DP to error ratio of 0:74.  Their second baseman, Marty Simpson, fielded .774.  Their third baseman, Henry Kohler, fielded .698.  It was a different era.  But Mark Reynolds might have felt right at home.

Just think how bad Reynolds would be without a glove or properly maintained field.

He might have been bad even on that team.

[DrungoHazewood]

12 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Just think how bad Reynolds would be without a glove or properly maintained field.

He might have been bad even on that team.

I'm going to take a slightly different tack, just to be obstinate:  Mark Reynolds would have been a good fielder on that team, and would have been the best player on the team by 10000 miles.  Reynolds is listed at 6' 2", 220.  Which I'll believe, that seems kind of realistic.  They don't have all the heights/weights for the Marylands, but of the players they do list the biggest one was a guy named Tommy Johns who was 5' 11", 170.  Most of the team was my size - 5' 7" , 145.  Reynolds would have been their shortstop and #3 hitter.  The NA of '73 couldn't have been much higher quality than a D-III college league today.  Reynolds could have played deep, taken his time, and been a reasonably good fielder.  Back in this era a very well struck ball was often just let go - without a glove you'd probably just prefer to not break your hand.

And as a hitter... he'd have been a decent modern MLB hitter facing D-III college pitchers throwing underhand at 60 mph.  He would have been better than Long Levi Meyerle.