Maybe too soon to ask about Mike Wright

[Tony-OH]

52 minutes ago, Luke-OH said:

The first part is correct, although over a large enough sample, the luck part diminishes.

I do want to point out that it's not a new cutter, he threw it all last year with lackluster results. It may be a slightly altered cutter, but not new.  

Statcast still called it a slider, but looking at the velocity and movement it was more of a cutter. I would say at times it got much much depth at times and was definitely a slider. Really the only different between a slider and cutter is the amount of depth and break.

Either way, it was a pitch that had a batter K rate but still got hit hard because he's not consistent with the pitch. Just like what I saw yesterday. 

But he's more confident now....

[Natty]

1 hour ago, Mayor McCheese said:

Haven't we seen enough of Mike Wright already... I mean we know what he is.  He is a career 5.75 ERA pitcher, He BABIP was .344 which umm stinks.  He walks too many guys and can't get groundballs. 

 

 

With just a slight improvement, Wright could have better numbers than Cobb, Cashner, and Bundy. It wouldn't take much. 

[interloper]

Well that was more like the Wright we know.

Couple observations from last night:

-Walked the first batter. Tsk tsk. 

-Good to see the 4 seamer continue to reappear and have life at 94mph. He needs this pitch. Maybe just not up in the zone against Judge. 

-The cutter is hit or miss. 

-He has no breaking ball to speak of. It was basically 4seamer, cutter, 4seamer, cutter all night. Occasional slider. I don't know how he expects to be a starting pitcher without an out pitch or at least a third pitch.

-He's just a mess on the mound. No composure, jumping all over the place, spinning around, breathing hard - and this is all in the first inning! Looked much better with this earlier in the spring but clearly under the lights against big teams he can't really control his energy. Not that it's bad to be high-energy, but I dunno. If I'm a defender watching my guy pitch, he doesn't give me confidence with the way he looks on the mound. IMO.  

-Means came on and, while he did give up a couple runs as well, just seemed more in control of the game overall. The difference seemed stark to me. 

 

I've liked Wright's spring and I'm intrigued on his comments that some of the analytics have helped him. Ultimately, though, he seems like a long or middle reliever to me. The numbers in spring support that. He still gives up too many hits, he still doesn't have great command, still doesn't have an out pitch. 

[DrungoHazewood]

10 minutes ago, interloper said:

-He's just a mess on the mound. No composure, jumping all over the place, spinning around, breathing hard - and this is all in the first inning! Looked much better with this earlier in the spring but clearly under the lights against big teams he can't really control his energy. Not that it's bad to be high-energy, but I dunno. If I'm a defender watching my guy pitch, he doesn't give me confidence with the way he looks on the mound. IMO.  

He needs to start talking to the ball. 

[clapdiddy]

14 minutes ago, interloper said:

Well that was more like the Wright we know.

Couple observations from last night:

-Walked the first batter. Tsk tsk. 

-Good to see the 4 seamer continue to reappear and have life at 94mph. He needs this pitch. Maybe just not up in the zone against Judge. 

-The cutter is hit or miss. 

-He has no breaking ball to speak of. It was basically 4seamer, cutter, 4seamer, cutter all night. Occasional slider. I don't know how he expects to be a starting pitcher without an out pitch or at least a third pitch.

-He's just a mess on the mound. No composure, jumping all over the place, spinning around, breathing hard - and this is all in the first inning! Looked much better with this earlier in the spring but clearly under the lights against big teams he can't really control his energy. Not that it's bad to be high-energy, but I dunno. If I'm a defender watching my guy pitch, he doesn't give me confidence with the way he looks on the mound. IMO.  

-Means came on and, while he did give up a couple runs as well, just seemed more in control of the game overall. The difference seemed stark to me. 

 

I've liked Wright's spring and I'm intrigued on his comments that some of the analytics have helped him. Ultimately, though, he seems like a long or middle reliever to me. The numbers in spring support that. He still gives up too many hits, he still doesn't have great command, still doesn't have an out pitch. 

The points about his composure lead me to believe he wouldn't be such a great reliever.   Maybe a mop-up type of guy, but definitely not someone you'd want in an important role.   Perhaps in a reliever role, he can focus on only a couple of pitches and make himself valuable.   I just don't see it.

I just think it's time to cut bait with him.   He might catch on with another organization and thrive.   I don't think it's going to happen here.   He may just be one of those "change of scenery" guys.

[foxfield]

2 minutes ago, clapdiddy said:

The points about his composure lead me to believe he wouldn't be such a great reliever.   Maybe a mop-up type of guy, but definitely not someone you'd want in an important role.   Perhaps in a reliever role, he can focus on only a couple of pitches and make himself valuable.   I just don't see it.

I just think it's time to cut bait with him.   He might catch on with another organization and thrive.   I don't think it's going to happen here.   He may just be one of those "change of scenery" guys.

Like Arrietta!

 

 

 

Tony, I'm sorry, I couldn't help it.

[interloper]

Of course, in all fairness.... if he was shutting everyone down and lighting it up out there, I wouldn't be talking about his composure. I'd probably be raving about his energy on the mound. 

 

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, clapdiddy said:

The points about his composure lead me to believe he wouldn't be such a great reliever.   Maybe a mop-up type of guy, but definitely not someone you'd want in an important role.   Perhaps in a reliever role, he can focus on only a couple of pitches and make himself valuable.   I just don't see it.

I just think it's time to cut bait with him.   He might catch on with another organization and thrive.   I don't think it's going to happen here.   He may just be one of those "change of scenery" guys.

The scenery has been about as changed as it could be — new GM, new manager, new pitching coach, increased availability of analytic data, etc.   I don’t think the scenery is the issue.    That said, just like I didn’t overreact to 10 scoreless innings, I’m not going nuts over one bad outing, either.    He still may be one of our 12 best major league-ready pitchers, even if he’s well below average by major league standards.    

[Legend_Of_Joey]

6 minutes ago, Frobby said:

The scenery has been about as changed as it could be — new GM, new manager, new pitching coach, increased availability of analytic data, etc.   I don’t think the scenery is the issue.    That said, just like I didn’t overreact to 10 scoreless innings, I’m not going nuts over one bad outing, either.    He still may be one of our 12 best major league-ready pitchers, even if he’s well below average by major league standards.    

It wasn't even a bad outing.

He walked the first batter then gave up a home run. He then only scattered a few hits after that, never in a row. Got a double play to end an inning and struck out Judge his second time around.

He didn't walk anyone else and didn't give up another extra base hit. 

People are acting like he was pulling a "Dylan Bundy" here. 

[LookinUp]

3 hours ago, clapdiddy said:

I just think it's time to cut bait with him.   He might catch on with another organization and thrive.   I don't think it's going to happen here.   He may just be one of those "change of scenery" guys.

In a vacuum, I'd agree. I think the O's may actually value having a guy on the ML roster who can hold some of the younger guys back, even if he's not good. Guys like Kremer and Akin will likely need more time in the minors. I hope they can work on their craft without the pressure of needing a ML arm.

Now if we can find 12 guys who can passably fill out our staff, and maybe a couple of decent depth guys in AAA, sure, I'm open to moving on. 

[interloper]

1 minute ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

It wasn't even a bad outing.

He walked the first batter then gave up a home run. He then only scattered a few hits after that, never in a row. Got a double play to end an inning and struck out Judge his second time around.

He didn't walk anyone else and didn't give up another extra base hit. 

People are acting like he was pulling a "Dylan Bundy" here. 

He also threw about 70 pitches in less than 3 IP. 

To be clear I never said it was a bad outing, I just said it looked like the usual Mike Wright kind of thing. I even praised his fastball!

I agree with Frobby that Wright is probably deserving of being on the roster to start the season.

[Legend_Of_Joey]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

He also threw about 70 pitches in less than 3 IP. 

To be clear I never said it was a bad outing, I just said it looked like the usual Mike Wright kind of thing. I even praised his fastball!

I agree with Frobby that Wright is probably deserving of being on the roster to start the season.

I'll take 70 in 3 innings from a long reliever, if he holds a team like he did.

Maybe he needs to embrace his head issues and become a character, like the Mad Hungarian did.

Would make things more entertaining.

[clapdiddy]

42 minutes ago, Frobby said:

The scenery has been about as changed as it could be — new GM, new manager, new pitching coach, increased availability of analytic data, etc.   I don’t think the scenery is the issue.    That said, just like I didn’t overreact to 10 scoreless innings, I’m not going nuts over one bad outing, either.    He still may be one of our 12 best major league-ready pitchers, even if he’s well below average by major league standards.    

I think the issue is that if this guy gets flustered every time he gets knocked around, he's likely not going to last.   He could have looked at the success he's had over those 10 scoreless innings and just shake off a bad outing.    It doesn't sound like he's maturing in that regard.

[webbrick2010]

I have more optimism in the O's getting 4/5 innings out of Mike Wright than I do from Dylan Bundy

More an indictment of Bundy than praise of Wright I suppose.

Bottom line this starting rotation is going to be historically bad... and Mike Wright will fit in nicely

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, webbrick2010 said:

I have more optimism in the O's getting 4/5 innings out of Mike Wright than I do from Dylan Bundy

More an indictment of Bundy than praise of Wright I suppose.

Bottom line this starting rotation is going to be historically bad... and Mike Wright will fit in nicely

I’d love to rebut you, but after watching Bundy post a 5.45 ERA last year (7.61 his last 15 starts) and the way he’s looked this spring, I can’t.   I do think Bundy has way more upside than Wright, but I’m not at all confident he’s going to be significantly better than last year, based on what we’ve seen so far this spring.   Hope I’m wrong.