Why isn’t Stowers here?

[Sports Guy]

6 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

I thought some were comping him to DJ Stewart? It appears they like Vavra better to replace Mancini. The question is whether Stowers is an upgrade over Odor.

His AAA numbers are good but not elite. Stowers has a K problem and the OBP isnt great. It may just be a case of going with the known quantity versus the risk that he will struggle in the adjustment. Especially when you consider the net impact including defense. I'm not really advocating this, just a guess at the organization's thinking. Then again, they could call him up next week or when rosters expand.

 

His K rate is down this year.

Stowers is far from a perfect prospect.  I am skeptical of what he will be long term.  But he hits the ball very hard, draws walks, has tremendous power and appears to be a good defensive OFer, something we are lacking on the corners.

Whether or not he proves to be an everyday player remains to be seen but he has a lot of upside and value and is a guy we should be getting a look at and a guy we should not be caring about service time stuff.

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

Elias cares about years of control in regards to value. Maybe he’s not here depending on what they do with Santander and Mullins. Plus the progression of Cowser, Kjerstad, etc. If he’s surplus he’s more valuable with the extra control. 
 

And as I said, Nevin is a rookie who isn’t really getting a chance to prove he can play here and neither is McKenna who is playing well in limited opportunities. Mainly because Hyde’s preference to play mediocre veteran like Odor and Phillips. Odor has his moments but can’t hit any other time and Phillips has had 4 or 5 years of poor batting numbers but he and his salary was brought in over promoting Stowers. Fan are clamoring for him to be here but management obviously isn’t at this point. 

He could theoretically be more valuable.

He could also be out of baseball in three years.

If you want to play those type of long shot odds how about pivoting towards a 2022 playoff run?

[Roll Tide]

8 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

He could theoretically be more valuable.

He could also be out of baseball in three years.

If you want to play those type of long shot odds how about pivoting towards a 2022 playoff run?

Not my plan….it’s Elias’ 

besides, Hyde isn’t going to play them anyway. 

[Jagwar]

Moves to make

• Bench Odor... Urias at 2B (Vavra can back him up)... Or even DFA Odor
• Promote Gunnar for 3B (Urias can back him up when not playing 2B)
• DFA Phillips... Promote Stowers, have him DH every day

My only concern with that is the impact on infield defense. Will it improve or suffer?

[wildcard]

15 minutes ago, Jagwar said:

Moves to make

• Bench Odor... Urias at 2B (Vavra can back him up)... Or even DFA Odor
• Promote Gunnar for 3B (Urias can back him up when not playing 2B)
• DFA Phillips... Promote Stowers, have him DH every day

My only concern with that is the impact on infield defense. Will it improve or suffer?

You are also benching Vavra (and his current 448 OPS) to get Stowers at bats.

[Jagwar]

1 minute ago, wildcard said:

You are also benching Vavra (and his current 448 OPS) to get Stowers at bats.

SSS

Then let Urias and Vavra share duties at 2B

[wildcard]

3 minutes ago, Jagwar said:

SSS

Then let Urias and Vavra share duties at 2B

Vavra's minor league career OBP is 410.

[DirtyBird]

22 minutes ago, Jagwar said:

Moves to make

• Bench Odor... Urias at 2B (Vavra can back him up)... Or even DFA Odor
• Promote Gunnar for 3B (Urias can back him up when not playing 2B)
• DFA Phillips... Promote Stowers, have him DH every day

My only concern with that is the impact on infield defense. Will it improve or suffer?

We are currently defying expectations, sitting on the edge of a playoff spot and just 2 games out of top WC spot w/ 1/3rd of the season to go. There is a close to zero chance of making wholesale changes like this.

[LookinUp]

I think this thread is making an obvious point, but about the wrong player.

The obvious upgrade for this team isn't Stowers, it's Henderson for Nevin. That lets you do L/R at 2B (Urias/Odor) and still have Odor there for defense if you really want it.

Stowers will take innings and ABs from Hays, Santander and Vavra. You could argue also from Mullins or Mountcastle, depending on how the defensive alignment changes.

I want Stowers here, but he's not a clear upgrade over those guys. It's marginal.

The upgrade is Henderson. 8/23 can't get here soon enough.

Edited August 11, 2022 by LookinUp

[baltfan]

These arguments are all great, but the Orioles are 23-10 since July 1.  It is hard to argue with the results.

[spleen1015]

Phillips has some value off the bench and being on the bench doesn't hurt him. Why bring up Stowers if you don't have plans to play him every day when he plays everyday in AAA?

Edited August 11, 2022 by spleen1015

[LookinUp]

2 minutes ago, spleen1015 said:

Phillips has some value off the bench and being on the bench doesn't hurt him. Why bring up Stowers if you don't have plans to play him every day when he plays everyday in AAA?

Just to be clear, this team is one offseason away from being at a place where this is a very common argument at multiple levels.

Next year we'll have Henderson and Westburg as starters in the IF. That means we're having a regular conversation about Urias and Mateo being on the bench. Right now they're two of our highest WAR guys.

The outfield will be very crowded unless at least two guys are moved. Vavra will have a hard time getting ABs too. 

So what I'm saying is some of these guys are going to have to figure out how to be role players who can come off the bench and be great. Stowers might be that guy. Why not now?

[spleen1015]

2 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

Just to be clear, this team is one offseason away from being at a place where this is a very common argument at multiple levels.

Next year we'll have Henderson and Westburg as starters in the IF. That means we're having a regular conversation about Urias and Mateo being on the bench. Right now they're two of our highest WAR guys.

The outfield will be very crowded unless at least two guys are moved. Vavra will have a hard time getting ABs too. 

So what I'm saying is some of these guys are going to have to figure out how to be role players who can come off the bench and be great. Stowers might be that guy. Why not now?

Because Stowers is still developing?

I'm in the same boat as you guys. I want to see these guys playing in the majors. I'm just throwing out ideas.

[seak05]

Of all the prospects to call up, stowers makes the most sense. He’s played a lot of triple a games already, he’s older, and if he spends some time on the bench, as part of a platoon, that’s fine.

[LookinUp]

10 minutes ago, spleen1015 said:

Because Stowers is still developing?

I'm in the same boat as you guys. I want to see these guys playing in the majors. I'm just throwing out ideas.

You have to wonder how open minded leadership is at this point.

Stowers would have been better over the last couple of months probably than Hays. Would he be better than Santander? You could make that argument. Would he be better than Mancini was? Most likely. What if they gave Mountcastle's ABs to him? Stowers definitely would have been better. Mullins? Yup.

But I think there's still faith in our outfield and Mountcastle. And I think they love Vavra and value great defense at the end of the game. 

I get why they're not promoting Stowers is all I'm saying even though, right now, I'm penciling him in for 150 games in RF next year and expecting that to be better than we've gotten there this year.