My 2021 Midseason Report Card

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

30 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

@Frobby, this was an excellent writeup.  Can't disagree with any of your grades and summaries.  Very well done.

Oh my, how you've quickly turned on Valaika!

Players putting up an OPS+ of 41 aren’t going to have many backers. 

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Players putting up an OPS+ of 41 aren’t going to have many backers. 

Was expecting wildcard to say that Valaika was a victim of small sample size.  

But nah....he'd never do that.

[wildcard]

3 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

@Frobby, this was an excellent writeup.  Can't disagree with any of your grades and summaries.  Very well done.

Oh my, how you've quickly turned on Valaika!

I still think the same about Valaika that I thought over the winter.   If they play him as  a part time player is does not hits well.  If they play him full time he probably hit well  But so far this season they have played him half time.  So he will not hit well playing that way.

I thought Valaika would be a better overall 2B than Sanchez.  Sanchez is gone.  I thought Valaika was a better overall 2B than Ruiz. Ruiz is gone.  I thought Valaika was a better 2B than  Urias.   Defensively that is probably true.  Offensively  the O's would have to play Valaika as a everyday 2B for him to  be better.  But that does not seem like it will happen.  

I never said Valaika was a long term answer for the O's,  Just better than the others they had at 2B.

And I will stand by the statement that  Valaika  is still with the O's because they don't than anyone better.  At least not yet.

[Frobby]

14 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I still think the same about Valaika that I thought over the winter.   If they play him as  a part time player is does not hits well.  If they play him full time he probably hit well  But so far this season they have played him half time.  So he will not hit well playing that way.

I thought Valaika would be a better overall 2B than Sanchez.  Sanchez is gone.  I thought Valaika was a better overall 2B than Ruiz. Ruiz is gone.  I thought Valaika was a better 2B than  Urias.   Defensively that is probably true.  Offensively  the O's would have to play Valaika as a everyday 2B for him to  be better.  But that does not seem like it will happen.  

I never said Valaika was a long term answer for the O's,  Just better than the others they had at 2B.

And I will stand by the statement that  Valaika  is still with the O's because they don't than anyone better.  At least not yet.

In a 31 game stretch from April 27 to May 31, Valaika played in 27 games, starting 19 of them.   Then from June 8 to yesterday, he played in 19 of 22 games, starting 15.    That is plenty of playing time.   I’m sick of hearing these excuses. If he played better, he’d play more.   

[Philip]

Re: Valaika, The question does deserve to be asked? Why is he still here? He doesn’t hit well enough, he doesn’t defend well enough, he’s not versatile enough, even if the guys on the farm aren’t as good, now is the time to find out. And the fans would really rather have a chance to look at somebody new even if that someone isn’t meaningfully better. 

Edited July 4, 2021 by Philip

[wildcard]

13 minutes ago, Frobby said:

In a 31 game stretch from April 27 to May 31, Valaika played in 27 games, starting 19 of them.   Then from June 8 to yesterday, he played in 19 of 22 games, starting 15.    That is plenty of playing time.   I’m sick of hearing these excuses. If he played better, he’d play more.   

Whether you are sick of it or not.  I am saying the same thing now as a did over the winter.  Starting 19 of 31 is 61%,  15 of 22 is 68%.  Neither is playing full time.

[Moose Milligan]

5 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Whether you are sick of it or not.  I am saying the same thing now as a did over the winter.  Starting 19 of 31 is 61%,  15 of 22 is 68%.  Neither is playing full time.

Maybe it makes sense to you, maybe it doesn't...but why would you give a guy like that full time reps when he can't hack it 61% or 68% of the time?

"Yeah, coach, I know I'm really playing poorly but I really feel that if you just give me MORE opportunities I can turn it around..."

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

Maybe it makes sense to you, maybe it doesn't...but why would you give a guy like that full time reps when he can't hack it 61% or 68% of the time?

"Yeah, coach, I know I'm really playing poorly but I really feel that if you just give me MORE opportunities I can turn it around..."

If I ain't playing at least 97.3% of the time I just can't get into a routine.

[wildcard]

26 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Maybe it makes sense to you, maybe it doesn't...but why would you give a guy like that full time reps when he can't hack it 61% or 68% of the time?

"Yeah, coach, I know I'm really playing poorly but I really feel that if you just give me MORE opportunities I can turn it around..."

IMO Because he had almost a 800 OPS last year.  That should have got him the shot to start over Sanchez, Ruiz, Wilkerson and Urias.  But the O's have not seen it that way.  Instead the O's optioned him to the alternate site in April so he didn't even play in games during that period.

[Jammer7]

Excellent job, sir! I will not argue with one thing you wrote. Thanks for that.

Hyde mentioned something a week or two ago about the competition in 2020 being very "different" than that these guys are facing in 2021. That point cannot be under-valued in the evaluation of disparate results. The only player that really disappointed me is Santander, but I think he is showing signs of coming to life with the bat. Akin and Kremer are the biggest under-achieving pitchers for me. 

[Moose Milligan]

30 minutes ago, wildcard said:

IMO Because he had almost a 800 OPS last year.  That should have got him the shot to start over Sanchez, Ruiz, Wilkerson and Urias.  But the O's have not seen it that way.  Instead the O's optioned him to the alternate site in April so he didn't even play in games during that period.

In 141 at bats, WC!!!  You're doing it again!  

[wildcard]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

In 141 at bats, WC!!!  You're doing it again!  

Better that any of  the alternatives.  You can't really argue with that. Heck three of them have been DFA'd this season.

[Moose Milligan]

11 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Better that any of  the alternatives.  You can't really argue with that. Heck three of them have been DFA'd this season.

Certainly not THAT much better.  Not head and shoulders better.  Valaika is lucky that he's not been DFA'd this season...that's not an endorsement of him, rather it's a symbol of how bad the 2nd base position is for the Orioles. 

It's not like Hanser Alberto is lighting it up this year, too.  We can critique up and down about Elias and certain moves but it's obvious he hasn't found a 2nd baseman he wants to stick with.  Again, that's not exact praise for Valaika.  

[wildcard]

9 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Certainly not THAT much better.  Not head and shoulders better.  Valaika is lucky that he's not been DFA'd this season...that's not an endorsement of him, rather it's a symbol of how bad the 2nd base position is for the Orioles. 

It's not like Hanser Alberto is lighting it up this year, too.  We can critique up and down about Elias and certain moves but it's obvious he hasn't found a 2nd baseman he wants to stick with.  Again, that's not exact praise for Valaika.  

I agree.   I was the one who said that Valaika is only still here because the O's don't have anyone better.

[InsideCoroner]

7 hours ago, wildcard said:

I agree.   I was the one who said that Valaika is only still here because the O's don't have anyone better.

Valaika is normally OK — and just OK — against lefties, but he should never, ever be starting against RHP.