Positivity lifts the O's

[Aristotelian]

4 minutes ago, mdbdotcom said:

Why has no one mentioned the rainbows and unicorns at play here? It certainly seems obvious that they are having a huge impact.

Positivity has not yet lifted the O's Hangout.

[mdbdotcom]

Just now, Aristotelian said:

Positivity has not yet lifted the O's Hangout.

Thank heavens for the little things.

[HowAboutThat]

4 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

I wish I had your optimism. 

I think, mostly, these guys are what they are.  They're far enough into their careers where they've put up stats that provide enough information that we can get an idea of what they'll provide.  That doesn't take into account that any one or all of these guys could pop off and have a career year. 

To your point, Fry, Phillips, Hess, Yacabonis and Means all have upside.   However, these guys have been ranked where they've been ranked for reasons.  Their games have holes.  To what degree those holes can be fixed remains to be seen.  

I think the point is a valid one. How long do you allow a terrible guy to remain terrible before you replace him with someone else? Well, so far, it’s been too long. But maybe things are changing.

Castro Needs to go down, which is easy, as it turns out he has an option remaining. Scott can arguably be sent down as well, bring up the other guys. Over the course of the year, we are going to find the best of our current crop of players. They may not be great, but they will be better than what we have right now.

Means and Fry are each a pleasant surprise( as has been Smith)We don’t know how many other pleasant surprises are going to appear, but I will wager that it is more than one.

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

All the positivity in the world will not turn Davis and Rickard into good major league players or the Orioles into a good major league team. It does look like Smith has nugget potential, and I like Severino as well. We still need talent to win. Last night was just an example of the whole lineup taking advantage of bad pitching (just like when we got crushed the night before, bad pitching is contagious).

I agree that bad pitching has been a problem.  Wright is gone.  Castro needs to be sent down and Ramirez needs to be brought up.    Hess is good for 4 innings and needs to go to the pen.   Cobb needs be consistently in the rotation.   I think things will get better.

Davis is 6 for 16 (.375) with 2  HR and 4 RBI since he got his first hit.  Maybe he has turned a corner.  He looks much better at the plate.

[bobmc]

31 minutes ago, mdbdotcom said:

Thank heavens for the little things.

The euphemism @interloper uses around here is "silver lining" 

[mdbdotcom]

1 minute ago, bobmc said:

The euphemism @interloper uses around here is "silver lining" 

So, have I now proved that he and I are not the same person?

 

[bobmc]

9 minutes ago, mdbdotcom said:

So, have I now proved that he and I are not the same person?

 

Indubitably - but you both are so "positive" that it is difficult to discern.

Now back to all things positive!  

[OFFNY]

2 hours ago, OFFNY said:

o

 

This is the first time since (at least) the beginning of the 2012 season that the team has not been expected to succeed by anyone. I believe the fact that they essentially have no pressure on them helps them, in that they are essentially playing with house money. 

 

o

o

 

This is mildly reminiscent of the subject of an article that I read in The Sporting News in June of 1979, when I was visiting my cousins in West Springfield, VA. The article stated the the Oakland Athletics, whom were in the midst of their 3rd consecutive losing season (54-108), had a players-only team meeting. In said meeting, the Athletics players stated that because they were hopelessly far from winning the division, or even of having a winning season, they therefore were going to "just go out and have fun playing the game", and not necessarily concern themselves with where they were in the standings and/or what their overall record was.

 

o

[interloper]

11 minutes ago, bobmc said:

Indubitably - but you both are so "positive" that it is difficult to discern.

Now back to all things positive!  

For the record, I'm not always positive. I'm really making a conscious choice to be positive about the club this year, though. For my own sanity. The silver lining report is kind of an exercise to force myself to see the positives in an ultimately lost, if entertaining, year. 

Mike Wright is gone though, so I'm feeling very positive right now!

[mdbdotcom]

Just now, interloper said:

For the record, I'm not always positive. I'm really making a conscious choice to be positive about the club this year, though. For my own sanity. The silver lining report is kind of an exercise to force myself to see the positives in an ultimately lost, if entertaining, year. 

Mike Wright is gone though, so I'm feeling very positive right now!

I wish I'd said that.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

Positivity has not yet lifted the O's Hangout.

Last night's game thread was pretty positive.

[Aristotelian]

16 minutes ago, interloper said:

For the record, I'm not always positive. I'm really making a conscious choice to be positive about the club this year, though. For my own sanity. The silver lining report is kind of an exercise to force myself to see the positives in an ultimately lost, if entertaining, year. 

Mike Wright is gone though, so I'm feeling very positive right now!

I am positive about the future. I am trying to take a Zen influenced attitude toward the current season. Curious to watch them play, but uninterested in, and zero expectations of, the outcome.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

Just now, Aristotelian said:

I am positive about the future. I am trying to take a Zen influenced attitude toward the current season. Curious to watch them play, but uninterested in, and zero expectations of, the outcome.

[jrobb21613]

No matter if you think you can or think you can’t, your right.

[jtschrei]

This team has played hard and I've really enjoyed the season thus far. I expected us to challenge the worst record in modern MLB history. I think we're better than last year.

And I believe the pitching is going to get better.

The big question for me remains Chris Davis. Is he turning it around? Can we get .200, 30Hr, 75RBI out of him? He is clearly blocking Mancini and/or Nunez. If we decide we are going to not cut Davis, then can we trade Mancini or Nunez for a young arm or two? 

So far, so good. Still on track for a good draft pick; young guys getting playing time; entertaining product on the field; younger guys theoretically developing in the minors; supposedly putting a plan in place for the international market. What is not to like besides the Chris Davis contract?