Is Mouncastle as good a hitter as Mancini was prior to his rookie year?

[Tx Oriole]

2 hours ago, Eric-OH said:

Elias has failed to elaborate on Davis simply being at Spring Training several times.  Almost like Belichick he’ll admit to Davis being there but not too much after that.  We both noticed the same lack of Chris in that statement.  I wonder if decisions have been made and contingencies are already in place.

I hope so. 

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

I think last straws are irrelevant.  I think it is all down to if ownership will OK cutting Davis with the money owed and I don't think things like that are going to influence their decision.  The evidence has been overwhelming for some time that the Davis contract is a total loss.

We know that Elias stated in September that there were certain things he asked Davis to work on over the off season, though he didn't specify what they were.

Davis's recent comments to the Hot Stove show SEEM to make it clear that he ignored that request (unless Elias's request was that he bulk up).

I could certainly envision a scenario where Elias went to ownership at some point last season and outlined to ownership certain changes in approach that he felt Davis had to make in order to have any chance of improving.  And now it APPEARS that Elias will be able to go to ownership with some evidence that Davis didn't even get with the program.  His comments to the call in about not changing what worked for him for years speaks volumes.

The Angelos's aren't stupid.  If they have been holding on to Davis on the slight hope that they could recoup something from their investment, this could be the factor that convinces them that won't happen.  If they were worried about a PR fallout from getting rid of one of the last 2 or 3 recognizable faces on the team to the average non-fanatic casual fan, a guy who is good in the community and still well liked by most (remember the cheers when he ended his 0-fer)... they may finally have a justification that will swing the PR in their favor.  Casual fans don't like a guy who is perceives as not trying, and refusing to do what the team wanted in the off-season gives that appearqnce, especially on the heels of the Palmer incident last summer.

There has to be a reason besides stupidity for ownership's apparent desire to keep Davis.  Whether it is fear of bad PR, stubbornness, hope of a turnaround no matter how unlikely... If it is any of those 3 things, Davis's demonstrable decision to ignore an off-season request by the Orioles to make adjustments could definitely start swaying the owners' opinion.

[TheOtherRipken]

9 hours ago, 7Mo said:

I differ only in the sense that I think he gets 6 weeks of the regular season to fail. Then he's gone. And that will coincide with the Mountcastle call up.

This is literal Groundhogs day - the same posts were up last season, consensus being that he’d probably make it to the All Star break 2019 but there is no way he’d make it past that at current production.

If you need something to make his at bats more enjoyable in the meantime, just pretend he’s Bartolo Colon, it makes all of his homeruns that much more exciting.

[connja]

On 1/14/2020 at 4:51 PM, higgybaby said:

I would love to see what he could do over there at 2nd base. 
His bat would possibly be elite for a 2nd baseman. 

I totally agree.  Most of the comments I've read about his defense seem to be about his arm, which shouldn't be as much of an issue at 2nd of course.  Could he be a Jeff Kent like 2nd baseman?

 

[TheOtherRipken]

9 hours ago, waroriole said:

I think you guys are dreaming if you believe Davis is getting cut as early as 6 weeks into the season. There’s just nobody pushing down the door in AAA to warrant writing that money off yet. I think we see his playing time dwindle to once a week unless there are injuries, but with an extra bench spot this year they’ll continue to see what happens. 
 

I don’t see a Davis roster spot having any determination on a Mountcastle call up. 

There is no way Davis is leaving at 6 weeks but theres a player on his own team that should be the every day first baseman. To your point Davis could stash and be the DH/backup 1st baseman.

I’ve heard such mixed things about Mountcastle defensively, but I dont ever remember a player that came into the minors as a shortstop and had to play 1st base off the bat out of the minors.  Perhaps someone can fact check me there.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, TheOtherRipken said:

There is no way Davis is leaving at 6 weeks but theres a player on his own team that should be the every day first baseman. To your point Davis could stash and be the DH/backup 1st baseman.

I’ve heard such mixed things about Mountcastle defensively, but I dont ever remember a player that came into the minors as a shortstop and had to play 1st base off the bat out of the minors.  Perhaps someone can fact check me there.

Mark Reynolds.

Of course Mark is legally blind.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

12 minutes ago, TheOtherRipken said:

I’ve heard such mixed things about Mountcastle defensively, but I dont ever remember a player that came into the minors as a shortstop and had to play 1st base off the bat out of the minors.  Perhaps someone can fact check me there.

Sometimes they become pitchers. 

[tntoriole]

I think Davis finishes his entire deal right here on the roster.  I have been saying that every February since 2017 and it is as likely as any of the early release scenarios, imho.  

[DrungoHazewood]

10 hours ago, TheOtherRipken said:

I’ve heard such mixed things about Mountcastle defensively, but I dont ever remember a player that came into the minors as a shortstop and had to play 1st base off the bat out of the minors.  Perhaps someone can fact check me there.

Hunter Dozier and Michael Cuddyer were drafted as shortstops and were basically 1B/RFers by the time they got to the majors.

[atomic]

11 hours ago, TheOtherRipken said:

There is no way Davis is leaving at 6 weeks but theres a player on his own team that should be the every day first baseman. To your point Davis could stash and be the DH/backup 1st baseman.

I’ve heard such mixed things about Mountcastle defensively, but I dont ever remember a player that came into the minors as a shortstop and had to play 1st base off the bat out of the minors.  Perhaps someone can fact check me there.

Adam Jones was a short stop through AA.  Tons of guys move off Shortstop. 

[Aristotelian]

11 hours ago, connja said:

I totally agree.  Most of the comments I've read about his defense seem to be about his arm, which shouldn't be as much of an issue at 2nd of course.  Could he be a Jeff Kent like 2nd baseman?

 

That seems the obvious solution but it is so obvious that it also seems they would have tried it by now if there was any chance of it working out. 

[Frobby]

48 minutes ago, atomic said:

Adam Jones was a short stop through AA.  Tons of guys move off Shortstop. 

Great example, 1989.    The following players were drafted as shortstops:   Jim Thome, Jorge Posada, Trevor Hoffman, Jason Giambi and Phil Nevin.   And other guys like Jeff Kent and Chuck Knoblauch.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?pos=SS&year_ID=1989&query_type=pos_year&from_type_jc=0&from_type_hs=0&from_type_4y=0&from_type_unk=0

[interloper]

48 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Great example, 1989.    The following players were drafted as shortstops:   Jim Thome, Jorge Posada, Trevor Hoffman, Jason Giambi and Phil Nevin.   And other guys like Jeff Kent and Chuck Knoblauch.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?pos=SS&year_ID=1989&query_type=pos_year&from_type_jc=0&from_type_hs=0&from_type_4y=0&from_type_unk=0

That's crazy.

[Mr. Chewbacca Jr.]

22 hours ago, SteveA said:

We know that Elias stated in September that there were certain things he asked Davis to work on over the off season, though he didn't specify what they were.

Davis's recent comments to the Hot Stove show SEEM to make it clear that he ignored that request (unless Elias's request was that he bulk up).

I could certainly envision a scenario where Elias went to ownership at some point last season and outlined to ownership certain changes in approach that he felt Davis had to make in order to have any chance of improving.  And now it APPEARS that Elias will be able to go to ownership with some evidence that Davis didn't even get with the program.  His comments to the call in about not changing what worked for him for years speaks volumes.

The Angelos's aren't stupid.  If they have been holding on to Davis on the slight hope that they could recoup something from their investment, this could be the factor that convinces them that won't happen.  If they were worried about a PR fallout from getting rid of one of the last 2 or 3 recognizable faces on the team to the average non-fanatic casual fan, a guy who is good in the community and still well liked by most (remember the cheers when he ended his 0-fer)... they may finally have a justification that will swing the PR in their favor.  Casual fans don't like a guy who is perceives as not trying, and refusing to do what the team wanted in the off-season gives that appearqnce, especially on the heels of the Palmer incident last summer.

There has to be a reason besides stupidity for ownership's apparent desire to keep Davis.  Whether it is fear of bad PR, stubbornness, hope of a turnaround no matter how unlikely... If it is any of those 3 things, Davis's demonstrable decision to ignore an off-season request by the Orioles to make adjustments could definitely start swaying the owners' opinion.

Really well said. They have a lot of money invested in Davis. I have no problem with them doing their due diligence, especially with the team as bad as it is.

If Davis struggles again, Elias can go to ownership and say they have exhausted all options - now that he's had an offseason with Elias' regime in place.

[TheOtherRipken]

4 hours ago, atomic said:

Adam Jones was a short stop through AA.  Tons of guys move off Shortstop. 

Theres a big difference between moving off shortstop to center field and moving off shortstop to full time 1b/DH