Orioles get Brett Phillips

[Frobby]

57 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

I don’t really think people are doubting the ability in building the farm, international stuff etc. I have been fine with the player for player trades. Phillips makes no sense and imo Odor and Chirinos were terrible signings. Personality, comedian, leadership stuff is overrated imo. It matters to me if a guy is a disruption. If you are not leading with your performance than who gives a crap about the rest. You have Hyde and his coaches for that.

That’s not what the players themselves seem to think.   

[Mooreisbetter27]

1 hour ago, spleen1015 said:

Chirinos was signed to mentor Adley.

I think at this point Chirinos might benefit from Adley mentoring HIM. 

[interloper]

1 hour ago, Roll Tide said:

I don’t really think people are doubting the ability in building the farm, international stuff etc. I have been fine with the player for player trades. Phillips makes no sense and imo Odor and Chirinos were terrible signings. Personality, comedian, leadership stuff is overrated imo. It matters to me if a guy is a disruption. If you are not leading with your performance than who gives a crap about the rest. You have Hyde and his coaches for that.

I thought the Chirinos signing was solid, although I didn't expect him to be quite this bad of a hitter. I didn't like the Odor signing, but I learned to be fine with his presence on the team. But now he has overstayed his welcome.

Phillips I have to agree - this whole schtick he's got just immediately wins people over, meanwhile he has no business being on a ML team based on his actual skills as a hitter. He's a guy you want on the bench during a World Series run for his extremely specific skillset. But to put him on this club for his dugout presence is just nonsense IMO. The clubhouse is rock solid - these guys don't need a new glue guy. 

We'll see if I'm eventually talked into liking the guy, but I can tell you right now, it's not going to be because he's a good interview or he's laughing in the dugout. It's going to be because he made a great play or impacted the game somehow. 

[Tony-OH]

I'll be honest, I'm not really sure why the Orioles added a left-hitting McKenna on the roster while they still have McKenna on the roster, but they certainly now have two good defensive outfielders. with both Hays and Santander grading out as below average this year by statcast, maybe they look at the chance of a Phillips, Mullins, McKenna late inning defensive outfield as too good to pass up.

One thing to remember here, we're just 1.5 games behind the Rays and they basically gave him to us. That kind a tells you what they thought of him overall. 

I assume this also means they are not impressed with Vavra's defense in the outfield as well. 

[RarityFlaherty]

1 hour ago, Roll Tide said:

I don’t really think people are doubting the ability in building the farm, international stuff etc. I have been fine with the player for player trades. Phillips makes no sense and imo Odor and Chirinos were terrible signings. Personality, comedian, leadership stuff is overrated imo. It matters to me if a guy is a disruption. If you are not leading with your performance than who gives a crap about the rest. You have Hyde and his coaches for that.

It’s not just building the farm though. He’s managed to put together a major league team, consisting of a lot of castoffs, that’s above .500. Where this team was before Elias to what it is now has to inspire some hope and at least a little faith that he knows what he’s doing. I seriously doubt that any of those signings were made solely based on that players leadership/clubhouse ability. I’m pretty sure they like Phillips’ glove and want to see if they can help him improve his bat. 

[Aglets]

1 minute ago, Tony-OH said:

I'll be honest, I'm not really sure why the Orioles added a left-hitting McKenna on the roster while they still have McKenna on the roster, but they certainly now have two good defensive outfielders. with both Hays and Santander grading out as below average this year by statcast, maybe they look at the chance of a Phillips, Mullins, McKenna late inning defensive outfield as too good to pass up.

One thing to remember here, we're just 1.5 games behind the Rays and they basically gave him to us. That kind a tells you what they thought of him overall. 

I assume this also means they are not impressed with Vavra's defense in the outfield as well. 

Well the Rays also acquired an OF in the Mancini trade right?  Maybe Phillips was kinda the odd man out?

[Gentile4]

If Santander plays RF, then who's the DH when Adley's catching? I guess the plan is to play McKenna in right, DH Santander, and have Phillips as the 4th OF except you no longer need a defensive replacement w/McKenna, Mullins, and Hays. I suppose you can keep DH'ing Vavra if you want Santander to play the field, but that certainly weakens the defense. I can't watch Nevin any longer. I still don't understand the Phillips acquisition, and I'm one to generally give Elias the benefit of the doubt. 

[interloper]

Can we change the thread title from "get" Phillips to "saddled with"?

[SilverRocket]

37 minutes ago, Aglets said:

Phillips had a .727 OPS in 2021.

So maybe he's not quite as terrible as his current stats suggest.

Yeah, I think they consider his bat to be fixable. That .727 was also split into .870 vs righties, .372 vs lefties. This year it's .565 vs righties and a literal 0-33 vs lefties.

I hope he mostly just takes playing time from McKenna. I can imagine Phillips being the better 4th OF over the next couple years. McKenna still has an option left.

[Roll Tide]

22 minutes ago, RarityFlaherty said:

It’s not just building the farm though. He’s managed to put together a major league team, consisting of a lot of castoffs, that’s above .500. Where this team was before Elias to what it is now has to inspire some hope and at least a little faith that he knows what he’s doing. I seriously doubt that any of those signings were made solely based on that players leadership/clubhouse ability. I’m pretty sure they like Phillips’ glove and want to see if they can help him improve his bat. 

I have some faith ….but also question if he really has approval to sign free agents that someone else actually wants. Castoffs are fine and yes we are doing well but I doubt a long term success story can be built with success with a roster full of DFA types. 
 

Plus the improved play and pitching lines up almost perfectly when Adley arrived. He’s obviously not all of it but a major contributor. 
 

Phillips has been around 4-5 years in the majors with one of the better teams at develop talent. If he’s all the sudden an 850 ops guy I’ll eat my Os hat. I think the likelihood is less than 1%

 

 

 

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Roll Tide

[Roll Tide]

40 minutes ago, Frobby said:

That’s not what the players themselves seem to think.   

We can agree to disagree 

[Frobby]

6 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

We can agree to disagree 

I don’t have a strong opinion.  I think leadership has value and some of it has to come from players, not coaches.   How much that weighs against on-field performance is very tough to judge.  I’d rather have a veteran who’s a great player and a great leader, and that way you don’t need to worry about it. 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Frobby

[justD]

3 hours ago, spleen1015 said:

I think folks are just sick of the losing and now that we're winning a little bit they're getting impatient and want more.

I'm gonna trust Elias because he's good a great job up to this point.

I think I've been waiting for four years, my husband died young last year and now I'm convinced the same might happen to me, and I'm tired of hearing it's going to be "next year" with no signs of it.  I don't believe there are any signs that things are going to be any different next year than this year, other than Adley being a year older.  I remember 2004 into 2005, and 2011 into 2012.  This year felt like either of those years - and then Means got injured, Grayson went down, Dayton Lane has crashed, and we're trading guys for low-level prospects to fill the system.  I will be *very* surprised if anything is done differently this offseason than last offseason, based on what I've heard him say, what I've seen him do, and what I've seen happen to our top-level prospects. I truly believe they'll be waiting til 2024, and only if we get some pitching that works sometime between now and then. 

I'll also add that it wasn't "now that we're winning I want more," with proof that I complained about this year being a no-win year back when the offseason finally opened up and we did nothing. 

[RarityFlaherty]

21 minutes ago, justD said:

I think I've been waiting for four years, my husband died young last year and now I'm convinced the same might happen to me, and I'm tired of hearing it's going to be "next year" with no signs of it.  I don't believe there are any signs that things are going to be any different next year than this year, other than Adley being a year older.  I remember 2004 into 2005, and 2011 into 2012.  This year felt like either of those years - and then Means got injured, Grayson went down, Dayton Lane has crashed, and we're trading guys for low-level prospects to fill the system.  I will be *very* surprised if anything is done differently this offseason than last offseason, based on what I've heard him say, what I've seen him do, and what I've seen happen to our top-level prospects. I truly believe they'll be waiting til 2024, and only if we get some pitching that works sometime between now and then. 

I'll also add that it wasn't "now that we're winning I want more," with proof that I complained about this year being a no-win year back when the offseason finally opened up and we did nothing. 

Sorry to hear about your husband. I’m sure it’s a lot easier for us younger fans to trust the process and be patient with this rebuild.
 

But, there are definitely signs pointing to next year being the year we start to be competitive. We are already competitive this year and have a ton of talent in the minors waiting to come up. In 2004/2005 and 2011/2012 we didn’t have even close to the farm system we have now. Until Elias came in, we’ve pretty much always had one of the worst farm systems in baseball, for as long as I can remember. 

[WillyM]

I looked up Phillips' statistics in games against the Orioles last year.

He may not have done a whole lot against the rest of MLB, but he gave the Orioles fits.

He appeared in 15 games, not all of them starts.  Had 8 hits in 30 at-bats, including a double, a triple, and four home runs.  He also drew 12 walks and got hit by a pitch once, so his OBP was .488.  He scored 11 runs and drove in 10.

Maybe the Orioles just traded for him so they won't have to face him any more.