Jorge Lopez 2021

[bpilktree]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

There is not much room in the pen until there is an injury.  

Out of options:  (4) Valdez, Armstrong, Plutko, LeBlanc

Rule 5; (2)  T Well , Sceroler

Needed lefties that will not be optioned: (2) Scott, Fry

Total (8)   The O's need to option Tate and add a bench player.  It appears that the Rule 5 guys can hold their own and the starters can go deep enough to not tax the pen.   Especially with so many mid/long relievers in the pen.

So until there is an injury in the pen I don't think there is room for Lopez there

I would expect him to stay in the rotation til someone in minors is ready they you can determine if Leblanc or Lopez is the better option as long man. If Lopez looks as good as he did last night then Leblanc is released and Lopez becomes longman.  

[Moose Milligan]

Lopez looked pretty good last night before the 5th.  I agree with @BohKnowsBmore, his command took a nosedive in the 5th and I'm not sure why that was...does he not have the stamina to go more than 4 innings?  If so, he belongs as a long man in the pen, maybe a spot starter or an opener.  

 

[Sports Guy]

14 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Lopez looked pretty good last night before the 5th.  I agree with @BohKnowsBmore, his command took a nosedive in the 5th and I'm not sure why that was...does he not have the stamina to go more than 4 innings?  If so, he belongs as a long man in the pen, maybe a spot starter or an opener.  

 

I think he’s the type of guy, as a professional player, that is capable of the occasional decent start but if he has a ML career, it’s as a long man/swing man/opener type thing.

I am not sure he will ever be overly successful in that role but I suspect, like a lot of guys, that could throw 70-80 innings of 4ish ERA baseball out of the pen.  That has some value while he is making no money.

 

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

I think he’s the type of guy, as a professional player, that is capable of the occasional decent start but if he has a ML career, it’s as a long man/swing man/opener type thing.

I am not sure he will ever be overly successful in that role but I suspect, like a lot of guys, that could throw 70-80 innings of 4ish ERA baseball out of the pen.  That has some value while he is making no money.

 

I agree.  He's got some alright stuff...and we've trotted out some guys with worse stuff in recent years.  That's not a ringing endorsement but Lopez was good.  I just don't think he's got what it takes to be a starter who can go 5+.  Two trips through the order, that's probably what he's good for.  Chop that up anyway you want, either as an opener or long man.  There could be some value here.  

[interloper]

I suspect he'll go to the bullpen eventually, where I think he'll be a lot more successful. 

[bpilktree]

He is 5th starter long man type pitcher.  Most teams 5th starter are guys that have good games here or there but mostly a 5 inning 3 ER type guy.  You just hope you get good offense in those games to keep you in it.  

[Just Regular]

Jorge's career splits - his second time outcomes make third more theoretical with him anyway.

I think he and Valdez both have potential to be maybe as nice a bridge pair for the Next Good Team as Mullins/Jahmai/Vavra are a bench for the Last Five guys on the roster.   Lopez doesn't have the befuddling factor, so will need to outpitch a bunch of regular repertoire guys for the gig.

Times Facing Opponent in Game

I	Split	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	SB	CS	BB	SO	SO/W	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+
	1st PA in G, as SP	34	306	279	38	70	14	0	10	0	0	21	59	2.81	.251	.314	.409	.722	114	6	5	0	1	0	3	.284	75
	2nd PA in G, as SP	34	278	244	42	78	10	1	14	0	1	25	49	1.96	.320	.394	.541	.934	132	7	6	1	2	0	1	.350	125
	3rd PA in G, as SP	27	141	123	28	41	10	1	9	0	0	11	19	1.73	.333	.390	.650	1.040	80	4	3	0	4	0	0	.323	146

[Sports Guy]

Let’s face it, most of the starters in MLB aren’t good after 4-5 innings.  This is why so many of us for years have advocated for openers and things like that and why Tampa started this whole thing.  It’s pretty obvious.
 

The reality is you should probably have a 3 or 4 man rotation.  Guys who can get you 18+ outs and then just bullpen it for the other days.  

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

Elias, Hyde and Holt were evaluating in ST and so was I.   I don't know what you were doing.

Mac had a poor 2nd outing in ST then he had three outings for 5.2 IP  scoreless.

Wells pitched 9 innings is ST to an ERA of 1.00.  He went 3 scoreless in his last outing.

Their first outings in the the regular season just verify what they did in ST.

Just because you were not paying attention doesn't mean no-one was.

I agree with SG that it’s way too early to draw conclusions, both about the length we’ll get from our starters and how good the Rule 5 guys will be.    I’m glad that several pitchers had a good start, including some who also pitched well in spring straining.   

[wildcard]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

I agree with SG that it’s way too early to draw conclusions, both about the length we’ll get from our starters and how good the Rule 5 guys will be.    I’m glad that several pitchers had a good start, including some who also pitched well in spring straining.   

The conclusion I am making is that the O's could go to an 8 man pen instead of 9 and expand the bench to 4 position players.   Its as much about the makeup of the pen with a lot of long men as  it is the Rule 5 guys and starters.  That is something worth trying IMO.   I think it may happen when Stewart is activated on the homestand.

[Sports Guy]

5 minutes ago, wildcard said:

The conclusion I am making is that the O's could go to an 8 man pen instead of 9 and expand the bench to 4 position players.   Its as much about the makeup of the pen with a lot of long men as  it is the Rule 5 guys and starters.  That is something worth trying IMO.   I think it may happen when Stewart is activated on the homestand.

This should be happening anyway.  A 3 man bench is horrible.

[NCRaven]

26 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

This should be happening anyway.  A 3 man bench is horrible.

You have backups at C, OF, and IF during a season where you're trying to use pitchers that haven't thrown more than 40 innings in two years.  It's not ideal, but it's not "horrible" given the circumstances.

[interloper]

If anything, it should be LeBlanc who gets the cut before either Rule 5 guy. 

[wildcard]

2 minutes ago, interloper said:

If anything, it should be LeBlanc who gets the cut before either Rule 5 guy. 

I don't think the O's want to cut anyone. And yes you said if anything.

[Sports Guy]

5 hours ago, NCRaven said:

You have backups at C, OF, and IF during a season where you're trying to use pitchers that haven't thrown more than 40 innings in two years.  It's not ideal, but it's not "horrible" given the circumstances.

It’s horrible when you have so many mediocre guys in the pen who are here just because they can eat innings.  You have those innings covered imo.