Embarrassing day for the O's

[wildbillhiccup]

15 hours ago, wildcard said:

Twins had split squad games today.   The major league team went to play the Nationals.  The O's faced the Twins AAA team.  O's lost 7-6.

Bundy's fastball looked hittable at 90-92mph.    He threw a few good sliders.  He went 5 innings but really struggled in the 5th.  He gave up 4 runs.

There is no reason to stop running when he ball goes to Mullins.  Mullins played left.  The ball was hit to medium left with a  runner on 2nd.   The runner never stopped at third and scored.    Same thing happened in the Yankee game with Mullins playing center.   The runner went first to third with ease on a ball to medium to shallow center.   Mullins also had one at bat vs a lefties.   Very weak swing.  He did hit a homer though earlier..

Yacabonis walked one and gave up 3 single in a inning plus.   One runs scored.  He did not look sharp.

Kline pumped 96-98mph fastballs which the hitters fouled off.   He finally got one hitter on what looked like a poor change up down the middle.  I didn't see him throw a good breaking ball but maybe I missed them.  This is the second loss for him after the walk off homer vs the Yankees.   He looks like he is headed to AAA.

Fry pitched a nice 8th inning.

Martin has stopped hitting .  He is 0 for his last 13 which drop his OPS from 893 to 704.  

Smith overran a ball in left.

On the bright side Peterson hit a 3 run homers and Davis hit a line drive single to left.  He actually looked like he was trying to hit to left.  Hays hit an RBI double.

Reinheimer  hit a single in his only at bat to rise his batting average to .455 with a 1.137 OPS.   He will probably go to AAA but could be the reason the O's don't keep Escobar on the 25 man roster.

That's  what  I saw today.  What did you see?

Spoiler alert. This team is bad. This team will be bad. And most of these players aren't part of our future. They're just placeholders. The first half of this season is going to be brutal so if you have a weak stomach I probably wouldn't recommend watching many games. The second half of the season should at least offer some hope as they start to call up players like Hays, Mountcastle, Diaz, etc. who should (hopefully) be part of our future. That's where we are. That's the reality of the situation. On paper the Orioles are the worst team in baseball (yes, even worse than the Royals) so it's really not a stretch to see them losing to a AAA team. Right now they're probably closer to a good AAA team than an average MLB team in terms of talent/skill. 

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, eddie83 said:

I never expected this team to score much. 

What I expected was to see this team give opportunities to players who deserve them. 

Me too.  The ones who hit and can play defense.

[LTO's]

2 hours ago, wildcard said:

Mullins is not a plus defender because of his arm and he has not hit well either last year in the majors or this spring.

Hays is the best hitter in camp and is playing well in center.

Santander is hitting well and playing decent corner defense.

Ruiz is a better defender at 3B than Nunez and he hitting much better than Nunez.

The O's are going to need some hitters.   Mancini is 0 for March, Martin is 0 for his last 13, Sisco is 2 his last 13 (both singles), Villar is hitting .160.   Davis is hitting .188 coming off one of the worst years for an mlb player.

That is 5 of the starting 9.   Someone has to hit.   They say if you hit they will find a place for you.  Well Santander is hitting.

Spring training results don't matter. They just don't. Mullins also has a .242 ISO and more walks than Ks. Looking at spring training BA is worthless. After getting ahead in the count, Sisco shot a line drive down the line in his first AB that was without exaggerating, maybe a foot foul. He also has a great walk rate. I'm not worried about Villar or Mancini, they are what they are. Martin should be in AA so no one should be surprised by him. He's there to play defense. Davis won't make it to July.

The previous administration, specifically Buck, totally mishandled Bundy and now we're left with a guy with a dead arm. Scouts and media figures like Keith Law warned about the way we were using Bundy throughout the years and now we have to live with the consequences. I don't care about his ERA, I care about him tossing 88 mph fastballs after 40 pitches.

 

[wildcard]

39 minutes ago, Enjoy Terror said:

Dumb question about defense... I expect the answer to be “no” but somehow on the Internet there’s always someone to tell me otherwise:

Obviously pitching and hitting is more difficult the higher the league you’re in, but does defense change? Like, is playing centerfield in the MLB harder than AAA? 

Assuming all parks are equal, that is.

As outfielders develop they take better route to the ball and get better jumps.   Some are good from the low minors and others have to work on it.

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, wildcard said:

I don't think Elias/Hyde are going to watch runners going first to third and 2nd to home because Mullins can't throw.  They are not going to give him a year IMO.   They are probably not going to begin the season with him as a starter.  As you just said Elias is trying to improve the defense.   That arm will not play as a major league starter.  The book is out on him. Team have no respect for his arm.

Santander is hitting now.  He has options.  If he stops hitting he can be sent down.

I think you are overreacting.    The difference between a Bumbry-like arm and a Jones-like arm is about one extra base taken every 10 games.   On average, teams have an opportunity to try for an extra base (or not) on a CF about 1.3 times per game.    And many of those times, whether they try for it or not is dictated by factors other than how good the CF’s arm is — placement of the ball, speed of the runner, game situation.

So, I’m not saying there won’t be some critical situations where Mullins fails to hold a runner, but it’s not going to be occurring multiple times per game.    And you have to weigh that against how many hits Mullins takes away vs. another fielder.    Honestly I don’t have a good sense for how many that is yet.     We know Mullins’ initial numbers were surprisingly unimpressive, but we also know his reputation and his speed.    So, we’ll see.    

[wildcard]

6 minutes ago, LTO's said:

Spring training results don't matter. They just don't. Mullins also has a .242 ISO and more walks than Ks. Looking at spring training BA is worthless. After getting ahead in the count, Sisco shot a line drive down the line in his first AB that was without exaggerating, maybe a foot foul. He also has a great walk rate. I'm not worried about Villar or Mancini, they are what they are. Martin should be in AA so no one should be surprised by him. He's there to play defense. Davis won't make it to July.

The previous administration, specifically Buck, totally mishandled Bundy and now we're left with a guy with a dead arm. Scouts and media figures like Keith Law warned about the way we were using Bundy throughout the years and now we have to live with the consequences. I don't care about his ERA, I care about him tossing 88 mph fastballs after 40 pitches.

 

The last two weeks of ST the guys that are going to play to start the season should be getting a groove.   If some of them don't they may find themselves in Norfolk.

[interloper]

Look, the pitching staff is the real problem. They are going to give up a zillion hits to the outfield. Cedric and Hays are going to get to a LOT more of them than Jones did. At this point in the rebuild, a few bad throws isn't really impacting a ton. I've seen Cedric make much better throws than he did from LF yesterday. 

Ultimately he's probably a platoon guy. In which case, his arm will matter even less. 

[wildcard]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think you are overreacting.    The difference between a Bumbry-like arm and a Jones-like arm is about one extra base taken every 10 games.   On average, teams have an opportunity to try for an extra base (or not) on a CF about 1.3 times per game.    And many of those times, whether they try for it or not is dictated by factors other than how good the CF’s arm is — placement of the ball, speed of the runner, game situation.

So, I’m not saying there won’t be some critical situations where Mullins fails to hold a runner, but it’s not going to be occurring multiple times per game.    And you have to weigh that against how many hits Mullins takes away vs. another fielder.    Honestly I don’t have a good sense for how many that is yet.     We know Mullins’ initial numbers were surprisingly unimpressive, but we also know his reputation and his speed.    So, we’ll see.    

I will not be surprised if when speed, arm and hitting is compared Hays is not a better centerfielder than Mullins.

[Moose Milligan]

8 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I will not be surprised if when speed, arm and hitting is compared Hays is not a better centerfielder than Mullins.

I think Frobby was just discussing the defense, not the hitting.  

[wildcard]

Just now, Moose Milligan said:

I think Frobby was just discussing the defense, not the hitting.  

Players have to do both.  The decision of who plays will be based on the whole package not just one element.

[interloper]

4 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Players have to do both.  The decision of who plays will be based on the whole package not just one element.

What is the point of sweating it right now with Mullins? If things go according to plan, Mullins is a bench or part-time guy next season. Hays is the better overall player, obviously, but right now there's room for both. If Mullins gets pushed out, he'll get pushed out. 

[wildcard]

From Roch:

I hear Cedric Mullins isn’t a lock for center field.”

This is the latest poking of a hole in an assumption that carried through the winter.

Mullins has to earn the job and he’s 5-for-33 this spring, including his second home run yesterday.

Austin Hays started in center yesterday with Mullins shifting to left and had a run-scoring double to raise his average to .364. Don’t read too much into exhibition lineups, but it’s acceptable to be intrigued by them at times. And to wonder whether, in this instance, Hays could break camp as the starting center fielder.

Mullins could be an extra outfielder for the Orioles, his speed and basestealing coming in handy, or play every day in Triple-A. And it’s quite possible that he’s in center field on March 28 at Yankee Stadium.

“Austin Hays is the best player.”

Not to be confused with Mountcastle being the best hitter. The same scout made both assessments.

Hays has power, can hit for average, run and influence games in the field. He’s capable of moving around the outfield, making him a candidate to start in center or right, assuming that Trey Mancini sticks in left.

The left ankle is healed, Hays is in top condition - training properly over the winter - and he’s having a monster spring.

[interloper]

No one is disagreeing with that! Lol

Just now, wildcard said:

From Roch:

I hear Cedric Mullins isn’t a lock for center field.”

This is the latest poking of a hole in an assumption that carried through the winter.

Mullins has to earn the job and he’s 5-for-33 this spring, including his second home run yesterday.

Austin Hays started in center yesterday with Mullins shifting to left and had a run-scoring double to raise his average to .364. Don’t read too much into exhibition lineups, but it’s acceptable to be intrigued by them at times. And to wonder whether, in this instance, Hays could break camp as the starting center fielder.

Mullins could be an extra outfielder for the Orioles, his speed and basestealing coming in handy, or play every day in Triple-A. And it’s quite possible that he’s in center field on March 28 at Yankee Stadium.

“Austin Hays is the best player.”

Not to be confused with Mountcastle being the best hitter. The same scout made both assessments.

Hays has power, can hit for average, run and influence games in the field. He’s capable of moving around the outfield, making him a candidate to start in center or right, assuming that Trey Mancini sticks in left.

The left ankle is healed, Hays is in top condition - training properly over the winter - and he’s having a monster spring.

 

[Frobby]

29 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I will not be surprised if when speed, arm and hitting is compared Hays is not a better centerfielder than Mullins.

That may not be the question.    The question is what’s the best overall alignment, everything considered.    Is it Mullins in CF, Hays in RF?    Hays in CF, Mullins in LF?     Hays in CF, Mullins as 4th OF?    Something else?    As I’ve said, I expect Hyde to play around with all kinds of permutations this year.   This is a year to experiment.

[weams]

16 hours ago, wildcard said:

Twins had split squad games today.   The major league team went to play the Nationals.  The O's faced the Twins AAA team.  O's lost 7-6.

Bundy's fastball looked hittable at 90-92mph.    He threw a few good sliders.  He went 5 innings but really struggled in the 5th.  He gave up 4 runs.

There is no reason to stop running when he ball goes to Mullins.  Mullins played left.  The ball was hit to medium left with a  runner on 2nd.   The runner never stopped at third and scored.    Same thing happened in the Yankee game with Mullins playing center.   The runner went first to third with ease on a ball to medium to shallow center.   Mullins also had one at bat vs a lefties.   Very weak swing.  He did hit a homer though earlier..

Yacabonis walked one and gave up 3 single in a inning plus.   One runs scored.  He did not look sharp.

Kline pumped 96-98mph fastballs which the hitters fouled off.   He finally got one hitter on what looked like a poor change up down the middle.  I didn't see him throw a good breaking ball but maybe I missed them.  This is the second loss for him after the walk off homer vs the Yankees.   He looks like he is headed to AAA.

Fry pitched a nice 8th inning.

Martin has stopped hitting .  He is 0 for his last 13 which drop his OPS from 893 to 704.  

Smith overran a ball in left.

On the bright side Peterson hit a 3 run homers and Davis hit a line drive single to left.  He actually looked like he was trying to hit to left.  Hays hit an RBI double.

Reinheimer  hit a single in his only at bat to rise his batting average to .455 with a 1.137 OPS.   He will probably go to AAA but could be the reason the O's don't keep Escobar on the 25 man roster.

That's  what  I saw today.  What did you see?

Embarrassing? What did you think would happen with this group of minor leaguers and washed up veterans? Really. What I saw were a few final camp battles, Bundy being able to throw 72 pitches. And a couple guys cooling off of what has been unrealistic expectations. I saw a feel good story reliever give it up.