Not a Bad Idea? Lopez as closer

[wildcard]

34 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

Bump. 
 

Sorry WC. All in good fun. 

Glad to see Lopez throwing well.  But I hold my breath every time he is out there in the 9th.   

[Frobby]

10 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Glad to see Lopez throwing well.  But I hold my breath every time he is out there in the 9th.   

He didn’t give you much cause to do that tonight.   

I’m not expecting him to dominate every time out.  But weak opposing lineup aside, his pitches were excellent tonight.  
 

[Tony-OH]

99 MPH with that kind of movement? 

Best stuff we've seen in the closer role since Britton in his prime.

[byrdz]

That was some electric stuff Lopez was flashing tonight and not just his fastballs. fun to watch!

Side note: Ump checked his hands after the last pitch

[wildcard]

6 hours ago, Frobby said:

He didn’t give you much cause to do that tonight.   

I’m not expecting him to dominate every time out.  But weak opposing lineup aside, his pitches were excellent tonight.  
 

Yes, I agree.   But a one run lead and his history does not allow me to have confidence.  I hope he keeps doing well and I adjust to his good performances.

[Moose Milligan]

That hammer curve he dropped in the bottom of the zone on the first pitch in the 9th was filthy.

2 hours ago, wildcard said:

Yes, I agree.   But a one run lead and his history does not allow me to have confidence.  I hope he keeps doing well and I adjust to his good performances.

For being the resident optimist of the board, you pick some weird things to be not optimistic about.

[Sports Guy]

6 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

That hammer curve he dropped in the bottom of the zone on the first pitch in the 9th was filthy.

For being the resident optimist of the board, you pick some weird things to be not optimistic about.

Especially since he spent the better part of a year hyping up Lopez and saying Holt was going to change him.

[ChuckS]

8 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

That hammer curve he dropped in the bottom of the zone on the first pitch in the 9th was filthy.

For being the resident optimist of the board, you pick some weird things to be not optimistic about.

That’s because he already took his stance on Lopez in the OP after watching him in one outing. 
 

Doesn’t want to flip flop now because of the small chance he will ultimately be proven correct. 

[wildcard]

37 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

That’s because he already took his stance on Lopez in the OP after watching him in one outing. 
 

Doesn’t want to flip flop now because of the small chance he will ultimately be proven correct. 

Hey, I can be wrong.   I guess what Elias next move is and am wrong more quite often.  He is not that easy to predict.

I saw Lopez's stuff last year and thought he could help the team but he had that mentally block that didn't allow them to be a good starter.  He just could not control his stuff.  

So to me to put him in high leverage situations and expect him to do well does not seem logical.  Middle relief would be a look place to try.

However, Hyde loves the guy. Trusts him.   And he is doing well in the late inning.  If I turn off to be wrong I can actually enjoy that because he will be fun to watch if I  can learn to trust him.

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

Especially since he spent the better part of a year hyping up Lopez and saying Holt was going to change him.

Holt's a wizard!

[Frobby]

5 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Hey, I can be wrong.   I guess what Elias next move is and am wrong more quite often.  He is not that easy to predict.

I saw Lopez's stuff last year and thought he could help the team but he had that mentally block that didn't allow them to be a good starter.  He just could not control his stuff.  

So to me to put him in high leverage situations and expect him to do well does not seem logical.  Middle relief would be a look place to try.

However, Hyde loves the guy. Trusts him.   And he is doing well in the late inning.  If I turn off to be wrong I can actually enjoy that because he will be fun to watch if I  can learn to trust him.

One of the things I like about you as a poster is that you do admit when you were wrong.   And, you’d rather be wrong if that helps the O’s.   

I don’t feel Lopez has proven anything one way or the other.   Anybody can have a great outing, or even several in a row.   Being a closer (well, a good closer) requires consistency over long stretches.   We will see if Lopez can develop that consistency out of the pen.  I think we’ve certainly seen that he’s very tough when he’s on his game.   

I don’t see anyone else in our bullpen who’s an obviously better candidate for a tryout as closer, so I’m in favor of sticking with Lopez through Memorial Day and seeing where things stand.   

We’ve had several good games from our bullpen so far, and I hope they’ll be asked to cover fewer innings once the starters are a little further along.   


 

[wildcard]

3 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Holt's a wizard!

Looking pretty good right now.

[NelsonCruuuuuz]

Looked great last night! Let’s hope he can do it consistently, that’s the key, stuff is there. 

[Moose Milligan]

4 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Looking pretty good right now.

Glad he's found his magic hat and wand since he seemed to have lost it all of last year.  Maybe they were in a clubhouse couch cushion or something.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

Glad he's found his magic hat and wand since he seemed to have lost it all of last year.  Maybe they were in a clubhouse couch cushion or something.

He left them at home when he took that LoA.  Found it during the lockout.