Orioles sign Shed Long to a minor league deal

[wildcard]

4 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Everyone's got a man crush on Adley, that's not going out on a limb.  You're at your best when you're hyping up a quad-A infielder.

Well, I am hoping Mateo gets a long look at SS.

[Tony-OH]

23 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

+1, I have a slightly more optimistic take than "minor league filler". This is a guy who was supposed to be the Mariners starting 2B going into 2020, having hit .800 at AAA and .787 on the Mariners in 2019. If he is healthy I could see him getting some MLB AB's and maybe get flipped. By this point we have plenty of minor leaguers to fill out rosters. In fact there has been some talk of having to find places for all the prospects to play. So minor league filler with major league filler upside? 

Sure, if your upside is fill in at 2B if Urias, Odor and Mateo all get hurt, then yes, I agree. 

I don't really care what his scouting report said a few years back because A) It's a MLB.com scouting report which is questionable at best B) He's had 417 major league PAs slashing just  .216/.284/.376/.660.

His expected stats are also well below average

                  XBA    XSLG  XOWA XWOBA  XWOBACON
Long          .196    .317    .285     .260           .316    
MLBAVG   .246    .407   .317      .316           .369

Defensively he's been mostly below average at 2B according to his stat cast info and his jumps are poor in LF where he covers 3.3 ft less than average per second. For comparison, Dwight Smith Jr., who was one of the worse defensive left fielders I've seen on the Orioles in some time, was -2.2 and -2.4 ft/sec than average in his two years in LF.

If Long plays a big role with the Orioles in 2022 or beyond things have gone very badly or Long has suddenly matured as a player.

 

 

 

[wildcard]

So Long begins on the IL.   Get healthy.  He is on a minor league contract so he goes to AAA to prove what he can do.   By that time we will have seen whoever the O's play at 2B.    And we will know whether Hays is injured,   whether McKenna is hitting.    So Long gets a chance when there is an opening if he does well at AAA.

He probably compete with Jahmai Jones and maybe Stewart.   But he has one advantage over the others mentioned.  He gets play at AAA if he is healthy.  All the rest are on the 40 man roster and have to wait until the CBA is signed.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

So Long begins on the IL.   Get healthy.  He is on a minor league contract so he goes to AAA to prove what he can do.   By that time we will have seen whoever the O's play at 2B.    And we will know whether Hays is injured,   whether McKenna is hitting.    So Long gets a chance when there is an opening if he does well at AAA.

He probably compete with Jahmai Jones and maybe Stewart.   But he has one advantage over the others mentioned.  He gets play at AAA if he is healthy.  All the rest are on the 40 man roster and have to wait until the CBA is signed.

But he’s not healthy, right?   My impression is he’s not likely to start the season on time, CBA or not.   It’s a little unclear exactly what his timetable is expected to be.  

[Ruzious]

These types of signings don't fill me with confidence about the O's, but it's just a minor league contract, so I won't worry about it.   

[Frobby]

18 minutes ago, Ruzious said:

These types of signings don't fill me with confidence about the O's, but it's just a minor league contract, so I won't worry about it.   

Especially since that’s the only kind of signing they can do right now.  

[Just Regular]

The Long signing kind of has me comping him to Darell Hernaiz as a mid-round prep middle-infield profile, though Google has taught me Long was drafted as a catcher before getting out to the middle of the diamond Isaiah Kiner-Falefa style.

If Hernaiz has an Age-20 season anything like Long's Age-20 2016, people around here will be juiced.    Long was good in 2017 too including AA success that got him into MLB's positional Top 10 for 2B that offseason.

But now it's 4.5 years later, and that guy is scrounging to stay in the league.   

[Can_of_corn]

13 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

The Long signing kind of has me comping him to Darell Hernaiz as a mid-round prep middle-infield profile, though Google has taught me Long was drafted as a catcher before getting out to the middle of the diamond Isaiah Kiner-Falefa style.

If Hernaiz has an Age-20 season anything like Long's Age-20 2016, people around here will be juiced.    Long was good in 2017 too including AA success that got him into MLB's positional Top 10 for 2B that offseason.

But now it's 4.5 years later, and that guy is scrounging to stay in the league.   

If he could catch it would greatly increases his chances of sticking.

[SteveA]

9 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

If he could catch it would greatly increases his chances of sticking.

The Reds moved him off catching pretty quickly.   32 games in rookie league in both 2013 and 2014 at ages 17 & 18, and he has never been behind the plate in 7 major/minor league seasons since.   That ship would seem to have sailed.

[Can_of_corn]

6 minutes ago, SteveA said:

The Reds moved him off catching pretty quickly.   32 games in rookie league in both 2013 and 2014 at ages 17 & 18, and he has never been behind the plate in 7 major/minor league seasons since.   That ship would seem to have sailed.

Sure, I was just throwing out a hypothetical.  Goodness knows they need at least one more catcher.

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

But he’s not healthy, right?   My impression is he’s not likely to start the season on time, CBA or not.   It’s a little unclear exactly what his timetable is expected to be.  

Guess that is why the first line of my post said he starts on the IL.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

Guess that is why the first line of my post said he starts on the IL.

But you seemed to suggest his IL stint might end before major league camp starts, giving him some advantage, right?   It would take a very long work stoppage for that to occur, it seems.

[wildcard]

34 minutes ago, Frobby said:

But you seemed to suggest his IL stint might end before major league camp starts, giving him some advantage, right?   It would take a very long work stoppage for that to occur, it seems.

I think you are trippin'.   Reading stuff that is not even there.   Better put that cocktail down and sober up before you type.

[Frobby]

46 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I think you are trippin'.   Reading stuff that is not even there.   Better put that cocktail down and sober up before you type.

I don’t know how else to interpret this:

“He probably compete with Jahmai Jones and maybe Stewart.   But he has one advantage over the others mentioned.  He gets play at AAA if he is healthy.  All the rest are on the 40 man roster and have to wait until the CBA is signed.”

Doesn’t that Indicate he’ll have an advantage if he’s healthy enough to play in AAA before the CBA is signed?    But that doesn’t seem likely to me unless the CBA really takes a very long time.  

[Legend_Of_Joey]

Low risk signing. Unless he becomes Mullins 2021 2.0, not much upside other than a warm body in the organization.

The leg injury is a little concerning as it is taking a long time. With no timetable for a return, he could be held for Extended Spring Training before joining an affiliate (probably low level first to build up) before going to Norfolk. Mullins, Hays, Santander and McKenna shouldn’t be worried by him. 
 

He doesn’t need to start on the “IL,” as he isn’t going to be on the 40.