Why did Elias DFA Tom Eshelman? Jones promotion and the OF traffic jam.

[Frobby]

I suspect Jones is not going to turn out to be a major league caliber player.   I don’t mind giving him a look, but I’m not expecting much.   I’m willing to tolerate somewhat subpar defense in exchange for somewhat above average offense, but from what I’ve read Jones’ defense at 2B is likely to be below “somewhat subpar” and his offense probably won’t reach “somewhat above average.”  I’ll assume Jones can play a decent OF, but I doubt he’s better overall than the other options we have.  

[Philip]

30 minutes ago, Il BuonO said:

I really don’t know where you’re getting this. There was a time Sisco was thought to be below average defensively, but when he left he had clearly improved and I preferred him to Severino. 
Severino is maybe one of the worst catchers I’ve ever seen.   

Sisco (-1 DRS) blocks the ball well, definitely improved his throwing, calls a decent game and his framing is also improved. Severino (-8 DRS) does none of those things well. 

Shoot, Sisco’s bat may have suffered due to his focus on defense. 

Sisco did get better but he was still useless as a catcher. I agree about Severino, and everyone here wonders why he remains. Most folks want to jettison them both.

[SteveA]

35 minutes ago, Philip said:

About my other question: Why DFA Eshelman instead of Anderson? What’s so special about Anderson?

Also, Anderson was on the major league roster at the time.  The move was to make room for Akin to return to the 40 man roster.  If you DFA Anderson there you create an additional vacancy on the 26 that can only be filled by someone on Norfolk who is on the 40, and most of those guys are guys we want to keep in Norfolk to gain some consistency (Kremer, Lowther, etc).

Now if you want to DFA Anderson to give some other non 40 man guy like Knight a shot, I'm all for that.  That's the kind of shuffling we've been doing all year... bring a non prospect up, let him pitch a bit, DFA him once he sucks (Flaa, Jansen, Wade, Anderson, Watkins, Greene).

So I'm not saying Anderson should not be DFA'd.  But the particular problem that was trying to be solved yesterday was opening a spot on the 40 man roster to reinstate Akin, not to dump another guy off the 26 as well as the 40.  Anderson is very dumpable and his time will probably come soon enough, but yesterday was about clearing a space on the40 for Akin, he was taking Tanner Scott's space on the 26.

[Il BuonO]

17 minutes ago, Philip said:

Anderson isnt?

Im not a fan of Eshelman, I was just wondering why he got the axe instead of Anderson.

No, he isn’t. Like I explained to posters who wanted to axe Tanner Scott before he was even called up, if a guy can throw hard he’s going to get more of a look. Anderson doesn’t throw as hard as Scott, but he throws a lot harder than Eshelman.

[NCRaven]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

It doesn’t matter if Jones isn’t a second baseman right now.  You make him show you that he isn’t one at this level.

I agree.  And, if he doesn't prove he can play an adequate ML 2B, he really has little value on this team.  I would imagine that between the outfielders on the roster and those in the pipeline, Jones has little future in an Orioles outfield.

[Aristotelian]

I'm not even convinced Jones is a good hitter. Not familiar with Todd Karpovich or Baltimore Baseball but the only quotes in the article are from Jones. I don't think it is a given that we see him on the MLB team this year. IMO Dusten Knight is more deserving of a 40 man spot although nobody seems to be talking about him. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

43 minutes ago, Philip said:

Anderson isnt?

Im not a fan of Eshelman, I was just wondering why he got the axe instead of Anderson.

Because Anderson can throw a mid-90's fastball, but much like Mike Wright having good fastball velocity doesn't do much good if you don't know how to pitch. 

[Sports Guy]

7 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

I agree.  And, if he doesn't prove he can play an adequate ML 2B, he really has little value on this team.  I would imagine that between the outfielders on the roster and those in the pipeline, Jones has little future in an Orioles outfield.

Correct..but that doesn’t mean he has no value.  You can always trade him in a larger deal.

 

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, Philip said:

Oh no I’m happy to see him go, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not Eshelman’s dad or anything. I’m just curious why Anderson is here instead.

Just moving around the deck chairs on the Titanic. Neither pitcher is part of the future here.

[NCRaven]

14 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Correct..but that doesn’t mean he has no value.  You can always trade him in a larger deal.

 

I did say no future in an "Orioles outfield."  I agree, he may have some value as part of another trade.  I'd still do Cobb for Jones any day of the week, even if he doesn't turn out to be a piece of the long-term puzzle here.

[sportsfan8703]

And Urias plays a “terrible” SS, but he’s the best we have right now. We have to see what Jones can do. We’re some Second base elitists?  Beggars can’t be choosers. 

[Philip]

1 minute ago, sportsfan8703 said:

And Urias plays a “terrible” SS, but he’s the best we have right now. We have to see what Jones can do. We’re some Second base elitists?  Beggars can’t be choosers. 

When Martin comes back, I would be happy to see Urias at second, Martin at short, Try Jones in the outfield And send Stewart to Norfolk. That is not an unreasonable experiment.

[sportsfan8703]

1 minute ago, Philip said:

When Martin comes back, I would be happy to see Urias at second, Martin at short, Try Jones in the outfield And send Stewart to Norfolk. That is not an unreasonable experiment.

We’re the exact type of team that should try Jones at 2B. What do we have to lose?  Is he going to worse defensively than our 3B, 1B, SS, or C?

[Aristotelian]

2 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

We’re the exact type of team that should try Jones at 2B. What do we have to lose?  Is he going to worse defensively than our 3B, 1B, SS, or C?

A chance to use the 40 man spot for Dusten Knight who is killing it at Norfolk, is 30 years old, and could actually help us. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

Just now, sportsfan8703 said:

We’re the exact type of team that should try Jones at 2B. What do we have to lose?  Is he going to worse defensively than our 3B, 1B, SS, or C?

Even though Jones has slumped this past month I'm still for giving him a shot at 2B. If Valaika and Leyba can get reps at 2B why not Jones. This is the time where the Orioles can experiment. There's nothing to lose in giving Jones an MLB call up.