Nunez DFA

[MurphDogg]

Stewart will provide approximately the same level of production for the league minimum salary that Nunez would have provided and with Diaz on the way,  Stewart should be fighting for regular at-bats by midway through the season.

Since he is making the minimum, Ruiz gets one more year to show that he can be a 2 WAR-ish type player, if not he will be DFA'd at this time next year and Bannon, Nevin or a free agent will get a shot.

[Sports Guy]

56 minutes ago, Philip said:

Mancini and MC at 1B/DH. Even if Trey is full-speed, you don’t want to depend on him playing 162, so trading off makes excellence sense. This way both bats play and defensive carnage is minimized.

OF= Santander, Hays, Mullins/Stewart, when Diaz comes up, if he doesn’t start the season up, he supplants Mullins and Stewart goes back down.

Thats a far superior defensive alignment, and you’re not wasting a roster spot on a dedicated DH.

And again, the idea that Elias would weaken the team for such a minimal saving is ridiculous.

Stewart and Mullins are on the team whether Nunez is here or not, so that’s irrelevant to this discussion.

The only new person you introduce is Diaz and it’s highly unlikely Diaz starts the year in Baltimore...and if he does, you cut Nunez in ST, pay him 20% of his salary and move on.

So again, we are back to my point..this is all about money unless you actually want to believe the Orioles are trying to give Stewart 500+ at bats in 2021, which to me would be a foolish assumption to both think that’s what they want and that he will be able to do it.

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, MurphDogg said:

Stewart will provide approximately the same level of production for the league minimum salary that Nunez would have provided and with Diaz on the way,  Stewart should be fighting for regular at-bats by midway through the season.

Since he is making the minimum, Ruiz gets one more year to show that he can be a 2 WAR-ish type player, if not he will be DFA'd at this time next year and Bannon, Nevin or a free agent will get a shot.

Stewart is not as good a defensive OFer as Hays, Mullins or Santander.  He not as good a hitter as Mancini  or Mountcastle at DH.   I think it will take injuries to get Stewart regular at bats.  And I agree with you that when Diaz is promoted it makes it even harder for Stewart to get at bats.  IMO what Stewart offers the team is depth.

I think one of Elias' major goals this off season is to replace Ruiz at 3B.   He may be optioned instead of being DFA'd but I doubt he is the starting 3B next year.

[MurphDogg]

Just now, wildcard said:

Stewart is not as good a defensive OFer as Hays, Mullins or Santander.  He not as good a hitter as Mancini.   I think it will take injuries to get Stewart regular at bats.

Fortunately there is a hitter that can be "designated" to not play the field. 

I would rather have Stewart in the lineup at DH with Hays in centerfield rather than Mullins in center and Hays in a corner outfield spot with Santander or Mountcastle DHing. 

Regardless of whether you think Mullins or Hays should be the starting centerfielder, it seems clear that having another positionless bat in Nunez is superfluous with Stewart on the roster.

 

[Sports Guy]

14 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

Fortunately there is a hitter that can be "designated" to not play the field. 

I would rather have Stewart in the lineup at DH with Hays in centerfield rather than Mullins in center and Hays in a corner outfield spot with Santander or Mountcastle DHing. 

Regardless of whether you think Mullins or Hays should be the starting centerfielder, it seems clear that having another positionless bat in Nunez is superfluous with Stewart on the roster.

 

Except Stewart doesn’t play vs lefties.

Nothing wrong with a platoon situation there.

[MurphDogg]

24 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Except Stewart doesn’t play vs lefties.

Nothing wrong with a platoon situation there.

I guess. Though Stewart hit better against lefties than righties in the minors in 2018 and 2019. I have more faith in Stewart against lefties, than Cedric Mullins for instance. 

[Sports Guy]

43 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

I guess. Though Stewart hit better against lefties than righties in the minors in 2018 and 2019. I have more faith in Stewart against lefties, than Cedric Mullins for instance. 

Well Mullins is barely a MLer, so that’s not saying a lot.  

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

Except Stewart doesn’t play vs lefties.

Nothing wrong with a platoon situation there.

So you're going to arbitration with Nunez just to have someone to maybe hit marginally better vs lefties? I mean, maybe money is a factor, but in terms of bang for buck I have no problem with them letting Nunez walk. Sure it is "all about money" -- it is all about not wasting money. 

Also losing Nunez creates another 40 man spot. If you keep him, you risk losing Wells, Mattson, or Bannon. Which of those guys do you want to see on another time so that Nunez can DH vs lefties?

[Jammer7]

3 hours ago, Philip said:

Dumping one doesn’t prevent dumping the other. I am surprised Ruiz remains, but not at all surprised Nunez is gone. And Ruiz will follow. @Jammer7 mentioned that Ruiz led the team in RBIs, which is true, but a 60- game run means little. I’m happy with a rule 5 3B, a waiver guy, a non-tendered guy, or a returning expatriate guy. It won’t be difficult to duplicate Ruiz’ production and improve on the defense he offered. And he still has an option, so it’s as simple as outfighting him.

I can agree with this. If you can upgrade at 3B, you certainly do it if that new player has a chance to be on the next competitive team in Baltimore. Not just some retread failure from another team.

Outrighting him is only if/when you waive him and he is not selected by another team. His option is only used if he remains on the 40 man roster.

You will not usually find a serviceable 3B in the R5 draft. We might see a waiver claim, or some kind of trade perhaps. 

Not to be a broken record, if you're not going to put too much stock into 2020 short season, then you have to throw out the errors in 2020 as well. You are obviously not a fan of his, but I do think he is coming back. He may end up in AAA, using his last option, but to your point I think he would likely clear waivers and be outrighted to AAA.

[Philip]

3 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Stewart and Mullins are on the team whether Nunez is here or not, so that’s irrelevant to this discussion.

The only new person you introduce is Diaz and it’s highly unlikely Diaz starts the year in Baltimore...and if he does, you cut Nunez in ST, pay him 20% of his salary and move on.

So again, we are back to my point..this is all about money unless you actually want to believe the Orioles are trying to give Stewart 500+ at bats in 2021, which to me would be a foolish assumption to both think that’s what they want and that he will be able to do it.

It’s kind of funny how often you say exactly the same thing, when so many people have presented logical rebuttals. I am at the point where it’s not fun anymore, so I’m going to go back to shopping with my wife, we’ll argue about something else tomorrow, and I look forward to it.

[Jammer7]

2 hours ago, MurphDogg said:

Fortunately there is a hitter that can be "designated" to not play the field. 

I would rather have Stewart in the lineup at DH with Hays in centerfield rather than Mullins in center and Hays in a corner outfield spot with Santander or Mountcastle DHing. 

Regardless of whether you think Mullins or Hays should be the starting centerfielder, it seems clear that having another positionless bat in Nunez is superfluous with Stewart on the roster.

 

I agree. The only counter point I have to this is with regards to Mullins in CF, Hays can take less of a beating and maybe stay healthy for the first time in his career. He needs to do that badly. His all-out style in CF makes him, and it might break him. I think Mullins covers more ground, and more efficiently, but with less arm and less offensive potential. I think Hays is star material, but he has to stay healthy to get there. And I think the DH will be rotated, but perhaps Stewart should get the most consistent at bats there initially.

[Sports Guy]

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

So you're going to arbitration with Nunez just to have someone to maybe hit marginally better vs lefties? I mean, maybe money is a factor, but in terms of bang for buck I have no problem with them letting Nunez walk. Sure it is "all about money" -- it is all about not wasting money. 

Also losing Nunez creates another 40 man spot. If you keep him, you risk losing Wells, Mattson, or Bannon. Which of those guys do you want to see on another time so that Nunez can DH vs lefties?

No, I’m signing Nunez with the intention that he gets 400+ at bats because I have zero faith that all the players will stay healthy and I want him as a very inexpensive, productive insurance policy.

Why would we lose any of those guys?  They are already on the 40 man.  There are plenty of other players on the 40 man that you can cut before you even consider any of the names you mentioned.

[Sports Guy]

18 minutes ago, Philip said:

It’s kind of funny how often you say exactly the same thing, when so many people have presented logical rebuttals. I am at the point where it’s not fun anymore, so I’m going to go back to shopping with my wife, we’ll argue about something else tomorrow, and I look forward to it.

No one is presenting a logical argument that says this is about roster and not money.

You can’t present that argument because it doesn’t exist.  Everyone that is currently going to be in the majors fit into the roster with Nunez here.

The roster argument exists if (and only if) Diaz is up and everyone is healthy and performing.  At that point, I am more than happy with dropping Nunez or trading Santander.  
 

But considering Diaz won’t start in the majors and we have several highly questionable injury riddled players, that situation isn’t likely to present itself for at least 6-8 weeks into the season and the odds are that situation won’t present itself the whole year...or ever.

[Frobby]

Nine pages on this.  I think I’ve read enough.   I hope Nunez latches on elsewhere and has a productive year.  

[Jammer7]

3 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Stewart and Mullins are on the team whether Nunez is here or not, so that’s irrelevant to this discussion.

The only new person you introduce is Diaz and it’s highly unlikely Diaz starts the year in Baltimore...and if he does, you cut Nunez in ST, pay him 20% of his salary and move on.

So again, we are back to my point..this is all about money unless you actually want to believe the Orioles are trying to give Stewart 500+ at bats in 2021, which to me would be a foolish assumption to both think that’s what they want and that he will be able to do it.

If you had to pick between Mancini and Nunez, who would you take? I would take Mancini, even with some lingering questions about his health. He is worth the salary he is projected to make. To me, Mancini coming back to a role as a 1B/DH makes Nunez expendable. It is that simple. I am not going to pay Nunez to sit the bench next to Davis and have two holes on the roster. You cannot afford to do that and expect to make progress. 

If they re-signed Nunez and sat him on the bench, you would be bitching all year about the horrible waste of Money by Elias. This is still not going to change your mind, but I had to say it anyway.