Is it time to promote Mullins and move Jones to RF?

[Greg Pappas]

With Cedric Mullins playing very well as a 23-year old at AAA (.821 OPS, with a .874 OPS at AA beforehand) would you look to bring him up now and move Jones to RF, showcasing Jones' corner outfield abilities for contenders?  This was suggested to me yesterday.  Thoughts?

[scbalt52]

Definitely. Will we? No.

[pastorfan]

1 minute ago, scbalt52 said:

Definitely. Will we? No.

we can't do that, Colby might decide to come back any day now!

[ScGO's]

Yes it is.  Hopefully, RF isn't an issue and Jones is traded.  But the O's need to let their fanbase know that the rebuild is here.  Mullins and Stewart deserve it the most and send a message to the rest of the milb players that if you can perform well in AAA, you get the call.  I think that's what we saw with Hess, Ramirez, Fry, and Messinger, but Mullins signals that the potential "game changers" are coming.

[Frobby]

Not before 7/31.     But if we approach Jones about a trade, he needs to understand that we may spend the last 2 months looking at Mullins in CF even if he decides to stay here.    

[atomic]

We should but won't happen as long as Buck is manager. I would say bring up both Stewart and Mullins.  Lets see what they can do.   Really I wouldn't mind seeing an outfield of Mullins, Stewart and Rickard.  Couldn't be any worse than the outfield we have been putting out there. 

[DirtyBird]

No, because Mullins struggled in his first 20 AAA at bats.

[esmd]

Yes.  /endthread

[ChrisP]

Mullins is hitting .390 in the last 10 and OPSing 1.103. Now is the time, but it won’t happen. 

[Greg Pappas]

44 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Not before 7/31.     But if we approach Jones about a trade, he needs to understand that we may spend the last 2 months looking at Mullins in CF even if he decides to stay here.    

If teams are interested in Jones as a CO, wouldn't it be wise to showcase him there over the next few weeks?

[Jagwar]

To answer your question in the thread title... no, it probably isn't the "time" to do it, at least not as a permanent change. I would think that they want to first clear up whether Jones is going to be traded or not first. He has meant so much to this organization, and IMO deserves to be treated with a healthy amount of respect in an inevitable move from CF. 

Let the front office first deal with trading Machado, Britton (hopefully), Brach, et al. Maybe even a deal for Jones. Then deal with bringing up Mullins. One more month in AAA isn't going to change the overall trajectory of his progress or the team's future. 

[Jagwar]

7 minutes ago, Greg Pappas said:

If teams are interested in Jones as a CO, wouldn't it be wise to showcase him there over the next few weeks?

I understand your question. But is one month in RF really going to provide clarity?

[The Goob]

Is it time to do that and all of the following:

Promote Mullins to be your center fielder - He has 1,430 MILB at bats and for the year a .854 OPS.  His number are very similar between AA and AAA even after his slow AAA start. 

Promote DJ Stewart to be your fourth outfielder - He has 1,336 MILB at bats and a lifetime .360 OBP.  He has struggled since coming off the DL but he should be moved up anyway

Promote Steve Wilkerson to be your utility guy - He has 1,433 MILB at bats and a lifetime .370 OBP.  We know he can at least contribute defensively

Promote Drew Dosch to play third base - He has 2,034 MILB at bats and a lieftime .338 OBP.  He has a .790 OPS at Norfolk this year.

Promote Ryan Mountcastle to be your DH - He has 1,360 MILB at bats.  Current has a .862 OPS at Bowie.

Promote Austin Wynns.  He may not be great but he could be a decent long term backup catcher.

 

So promote Mullins, Stewart, Wilkerson, Dosch and Mountcastle and DFA / Trade Machado, Valencia, Peterson, Rickard, and Joseph.  I think we can trade Machado and Valencia and would DFA the other three.  This is not even assuming that you may be able to trade Jones and Trumbo.

 

Guys like Yefry Ramirez, Ryan Messinger, Tanner Scott, David Hess, and Paul Fry need to stop going back and forth and get extended looks in the rotation / bullpen.

 

By August 1st this should be the lineup:

 

Mullins - CF

Mancini / Davis - 1B

Jones / Trumbo - RF

Mountcastle / Davis - DH

Schoop / Wilkerson - 2B

Beckham - SS

Stewart / Mancini - LF

Mountcastle / Dosch / Wilkerson - 3B

Sisco / Wynns - C

 

No this is not a great lineup but we need to start to figure out who fits into the next 3 years.  I would actually watch this team play.  The outfield defense would actually be good.  I bet this team could even win more than 28% of its games.

[Greg Pappas]

1 hour ago, Jagwar said:

I understand your question. But is one month in RF really going to provide clarity?

It would provide an idea of Jones' abilities there.  Clarity?  I can't say, but a better idea than the current situation of a complete guess.

[Camden_yardbird]

Why waste the service time?

When the Orioles trade Manny and they need something to bring people to the park in the last month of the season...then maybe.