Jorge Mateo

[scarey1999]

47 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I’m not saying Gunnar can’t play SS. I can just read what the scouting reports say.
 

It’s looking like Gunnar 3B, Westburg 2B, Mayo 1B. 
 

As far as Mateo being a one year wonder, I think his defense is only going to stay the same or get better. Especially in the next 1-3 years. 
 

I don’t get the damper on Mateo. I’m not saying he’s an All Star. I’m saying he’s a nugget, and you can win with a player like him. 

I doubt you’d see Mayo at 1B.  He and his 70 grade arm would likely end up in RF if he moves off the dirt.  There were some that thought he could be drafted as a pitcher just because of the arm strength. Luckily for us, he wasn’t. 

[Pickles]

He just made another very nice play in the 6th.  Very good.

[NelsonCruuuuuz]

47 minutes ago, Pickles said:

He just made another very nice play in the 6th.  Very good.

Just needs to be more selective at that plate, guessing they are working on that. 

[MGH5208]

Just caught up on this thread and had a lot of good laughs - thanks

Most of you are trying to fit what we have in the minors into our future team.

I like mateo but have no clue if he'll be: our SS of the future, super utility, traded or a bust

If we think he's serviceable at SS, maybe we trade some MI prospects for a Verlander (just looking at what Houston did) type TOR

maybe we sign Correa and Mateo becomes the super utility and we also trade some MI prospects for a SP

maybe we trade him for a high P prospect at the deadline

maybe Mateo flames out and we need to keep all our prospects

There are tons of possibilities going forward and NONE of us know for sure who will make up the next contending team.

For now, I'm enjoying watching them be more competitive but not getting real attached to individual players (Grayson and Adley excluded) so Im not disappointed when they're traded or don't make it

 

 

 

[SpOkane]

Well, as Ben said, he does cover more ground than kudzu.

[InsideCoroner]

1 hour ago, SpOkane said:

Well, as Ben said, he does cover more ground than kudzu.

I had to laugh when he said that. 

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, InsideCoroner said:

I had to laugh when he said that. 

How’d you like the story about using dynamite for fireworks?

[InsideCoroner]

13 minutes ago, Frobby said:

How’d you like the story about using dynamite for fireworks?

A few minutes earlier, I had paused the game to show my wife, who is Croatian, the “beer bats” they sell in Detroit, and she was laughing at the absurdity of it all (and impracticality… Do you get them refilled? What do you do with the bat after it’s empty?). She laughed and said “Only in America.”  After Ben’s story about his logger grandfather, I caught her attention again and said, “Speaking of America”, and recounted the tale to her utter bewilderment.

[spiritof66]

18 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

I think you can get by with a weak hitting SS (depending on how weak we're talking about here) if the rest of the offense is pretty robust AND the SS has a GG caliber glove.  

I agree, though, I didn't have much hope for him coming into the season but he's done enough to make me want to take a longer look.

The game has changed. It used to be that managers could reduce the negative effect of starting weak hitters who were strong defenders at SS or C, or even in CF or 2B, by pinch-hitting for them if they came up in key situations. There'd almost always be a strong hitter or two on the bench, usually veteran major leaguers, who weren't starters because they'd be defensive liabilities, and if the situation demanded it a manager could even burn a pinch hitter by hitting for him if the situation called for it. That usually happened late in a game, but not necessarily: Earl would hit for Belanger at any time in the game (even having a pinch hitter-type lead off in an away game and then having Belanger replace  him in the bottom of the first).

It's really hard to do stuff like that now. When a manager plays that game now, he's often just playing for a L/R advantage, putting one mediocre or crappy hitter up for another. Most if not all of the non-starting, non-pitching spots on the 26-man roster are taken up by pitchers and defensively versatile guys who aren't very good hitters (and sometimes a guy with very little ML experience who is being auditioned) -- if they could hit, they'd be starting somewhere. Hyde has gotten around that a little bit, though I don't know whether it's been his plan, on occasion by resting one of his few offensive weapons, making him available to pinch hit. 

Another reason why the game would be improved, in my opinion, if the number of pitchers on teams' 26-man rosters were limited: more situations in which a pinch hitter would improve the chances of scoring, and fewer key AB's by lousy hitters. 

[sportsfan8703]

Mateo getting the Hardy treatment. Batting 2nd. Haha

[Sports Guy]

17 hours ago, Pickles said:

He just made another very nice play in the 6th.  Very good.

That was a beautiful play.  
 

Something  about a strong arm that is just beautiful to watch.

[Hazmat]

7 hours ago, Frobby said:

How’d you like the story about using dynamite for fireworks?

Probably for the best that he didn’t elaborate when he said they learned that alcohol and fireworks do not mix!

[Frobby]

The last six games Mateo is hitting .048/.091/.048.  Ouch!  OPS down to .578.   

[Sports Guy]

He’s not a starting player.  The only things he does exceptionally well is run and throw.
 

Would really like to see him go to a role  where he can play all over 2-4 times a week.

[Aristotelian]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

He’s not a starting player.  The only things he does exceptionally well is run and throw.
 

Would really like to see him go to a role  where he can play all over 2-4 times a week.

I'm happy to see how the experiment plays out. He's at 0.8 rWAR (0.6 fWAR) which isn't too shabby at this point of the season. Fangraphs has him even with Correa and ahead of Baez and Kiner Falefa. I'm not predicting he will sustain that but I want to see where it goes. Ideally Gunnar or Westburg pan out but it will be nice to have another option. I think Mateo could be an 8 or 9 hitter on a playoff team, especially if they have the top catcher in the game and production from most of the other positions