Orioles select SS Richie Martin with 1st pick of Rule 5 Draft

[Ruzious]

17 minutes ago, TGO said:

But with more time perhaps he can be a Cesar Izturis. 

He seems to have a high baseball IQ.  I haven't watched many games this season, but I've noticed him doing little things that made a difference - like last night keeping the tag on a base-stealer and getting the out as the runner very slightly overran the bag, being in the right place as a cutoff man to double-up a runner, knowing when to take charge on popups and when to let the perhaps overly-aggressive Villar take charge.  

[Tony-OH]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Izturis won the gold glove when he was Martin’s age.   Then was an all star the next year.   

That was also his best year ever at the plate, slashing .288/.330/.381/.710 before steeling in as a 251/.298/.308/.606 guy over the rest of his big league time as a starter.

But, your point is valid. Itzuris was a better hitter and fielder than Martin at the same age. 

The issue we have is the same one we have lots of places, if not him, then who? 

Martin may never be a regular, but because of his speed, I could see him becoming a decent utility guy if he can improve the stick enough to be around a .650 OPS guy and if he can learn to play an effective 2B and CF.

[DrungoHazewood]

48 minutes ago, Frobby said:

If I were to compare him to a past Orioles SS defensively, I’d probably pick Deivi Cruz, solid enough but nothing exceptional.    

Moments of Oriole infamy, numbers 4,588 and 4,589: August 14th and 16th, 2003.  The Orioles lose two games to the Yanks, 8-5 and 5-4, with Deivi Cruz as the DH, batting 2nd despite a .278 OBP.  He went 1-for-7, but inexplicably had two of the 13 walks he would draw in '03. He DH'd five games in the major league career, all with the Orioles.

[Tony-OH]

2 minutes ago, Ruzious said:

He seems to have a high baseball IQ.  I haven't watched many games this season, but I've noticed him doing little things that made a difference - like last night keeping the tag on a base-stealer and getting the out as the runner very slightly overran the bag, being in the right place as a cutoff man to double-up a runner, knowing when to take charge on popups and when to let the perhaps overly-aggressive Villar take charge.  

I would agree with this. Martin has shown very good baseball IQ on the field which is one o the reasons  like him overall, even though he's overmatched right now in the big leagues offensively.

[Spider44]

2 hours ago, ScGO's said:

This year isn't about winning, so I don't see the concern in letting guys like Ritchie or even Davis hack it out.  I think this year is about 1) finding a couple of pieces off the scrap heap to keep for next year when we start bringing a few prospects up and 2) to see if we can create some trade value for a few of our veteran pieces. 

We have done a good job with the first goal of finding some value off the scrap heap with Severino, Nunez, Smith Jr, Means, Alberto.  Still time to evaluate guys like Ruiz, Broxton, Hess, Kline, Ynoa, Martin, Sisco, Wilkerson etc and see if they will have a spot next year before we start calling up the Hays, Diaz, Mountcastles, etc.  My guess is this offseason we will see a lot of milb players and fringe MLB types released, maybe traded.

The only trade chips we are seeing raise their value are Mancini and Cashner.  Bundy, Givens, Villar, Bleir, etc still have time but arent really helping their cases.  Cobb and Davis? HA!  Hopefully Davis is gone by next year.  I'd stick with Cobb another season.

In a year or two, some of these scrap heap finds mind end up being trade chips as well.  I am very happy with Elias so far, and as far as the current team, I am loving the overall competition level because they stay in games and have some exciting pieces, but they are just weak enough to blow most games and keep us atop the leader board for Pick #1 again next year.

At what point do we stop using our good players as trade chips and start acquiring and retaining our good players

[ScGO's]

4 minutes ago, Spider44 said:

At what point do we stop using our good players as trade chips and start acquiring and retaining our good players

Probably next season or 2021 depending on the development of our prospects.  I'm still not convinced that any of the players on our current roster will be here by the time we have a winning team again.  Means, Sisco, Stewart, Kline would be my best guess for players on our next winning team.

[mdbdotcom]

1 hour ago, Spider44 said:

At what point do we stop using our good players as trade chips and start acquiring and retaining our good players

When our prospects become players and prove that all they need to succeed is to be supplemented by a few good players. There is no reason to acquire veterans until then.

[LookinUp]

4 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

I think SportsGuy's soul was just disturbed a little bit. He's probably somewhere trolling on someone and then perked up like the Force had a great disturbance.

I know it's been like a decade since he left, but does SportsGuy still have more posts on OH than any other poster? I'd almost not be surprised if he does.

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, LookinUp said:

I know it's been like a decade since he left, but does SportsGuy still have more posts on OH than any other poster? I'd almost not be surprised if he does.

Haha, I haven't checked. He was prolific.

[jabba72]

Could have sworn him and dark helmet were the same. 

[jabba72]

4 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Moments of Oriole infamy, numbers 4,588 and 4,589: August 14th and 16th, 2003.  The Orioles lose two games to the Yanks, 8-5 and 5-4, with Deivi Cruz as the DH, batting 2nd despite a .278 OBP.  He went 1-for-7, but inexplicably had two of the 13 walks he would draw in '03. He DH'd five games in the major league career, all with the Orioles.

[Can_of_corn]

6 minutes ago, jabba72 said:

Could have sworn him and dark helmet were the same. 

Dark Helmet is way more polite.

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, LookinUp said:

I know it's been like a decade since he left, but does SportsGuy still have more posts on OH than any other poster? I'd almost not be surprised if he does.

 

45 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Haha, I haven't checked. He was prolific.

I don’t think you can tell, because the count has been reset several times over the years.    I know he was over 100,000 at one point and was more than double anyone else then.   I’d bet my “real” number is over 100,000 by now, but I think my current official count is something like 40,000.

[atomic]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

 

I don’t think you can tell, because the count has been reset several times over the years.    I know he was over 100,000 at one point and was more than double anyone else then.   I’d bet my “real” number is over 100,000 by now, but I think my current official count is something like 40,000.

But how many of those posts were just him calling me a moron?  That is one guy I wouldn't want to know my address.  

[Frobby]

Just now, atomic said:

But how many of those posts were just him calling me a moron?  That is one guy I wouldn't want to know my address.  

Here is a thread from when he was breaking the 100K barrier.   You’ll see I made a joke breaking down the content of his posts.   

Per that thread, I was at 44 k when he was breaking 100 k, 8 years ago.  My current official count is 49 k.    I think it’s safe to say I’ve posted more than 5,000 times in the last 2800 or so days.