Kyle Stowers called up

[Ohfan67]

25 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Vavra seems to have adjusted to the majors right away.   He should be back soon and if he hits and Stowers struggles then Vavra may see more playing time.  

IMO Vavra has not shown that he has adjusted to the majors right away. Vavra has only played in 18 games. He started off hot and got on base at a very high rate for a few games, but he has posted a .577 OPS in his last 9 games. Vavra's extremely small sample size is basically half very good and half bad. Time will tell, but it's not clear what the Orioles have in Vavra yet IMO. 

[Moose Milligan]

8 minutes ago, Ohfan67 said:

IMO Vavra has not shown that he has adjusted to the majors right away. Vavra has only played in 18 games. He started off hot and got on base at a very high rate for a few games, but he has posted a .577 OPS in his last 9 games. Vavra's extremely small sample size is basically half very good and half bad. Time will tell, but it's not clear what the Orioles have in Vavra yet IMO. 

I don't disagree with this entirely but Vavra's approach at the plate is way better than the free swingers we've got.  That alone makes him a better option than most.

[Ohfan67]

4 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I don't disagree with this entirely but Vavra's approach at the plate is way better than the free swingers we've got.  That alone makes him a better option than most.

I hear you. He had some really, really good at bats that first week or so after he was called up. But he had like a .260 OBP in his last nine games. Vavra looked the part when he was called up. Very impressive. But the quality at bats can get a lot harder when pitchers figure you and start to challenge you. If he can't catch up to the stuff in the zone, then the walks will plummet as pitchers start to pound him. He's had so few plate appearances that this is all speculation. I just wanted to point out that his first week or ten days looked so great that it may have developed some overly optimistic projections. 

[spiritof66]

37 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Vavra seems to have adjusted to the majors right away.   He should be back soon and if he hits and Stowers struggles then Vavra may see more playing time.  Santander in right and Vavra at DH.

You say that Phillips didn't work.  I don't see it that way.  Elias paid 500K to get a speed outfielder to platoon with McKenna when Hays was hurt.   That  seems to have worked because the O's are now 12-7 (.632)  in August.  Certainly didn't hurt.

Now Phillips is backing up Mullins, Hays and McKenna  from AAA  in case there is an injury the rest of the season.

I thought when Phillips was acquired the idea was that he would help the Orioles as a part-time corner OFer/defensive replacement for the rest of the season. Elias said then, "I think that Brandon is going to be able to plug him into spots where he can impact a game. He’s got some tools that when deployed at the right place in the right time kind of make him an impact player.” That seemed doubtful at the time, and it hasn't work out that way. Not yet, anyway.

Maybe I'm just not smart enough to keep up with Elias' undisclosed plans, but I hadn't foreseen Phillips as an expensive minor league guy to be held in reserve in the event of injury. I don't recall reading or hearing that was the plan.

I agree that Phillips hasn't really hurt the team in his 17 PAs, with an OPS of .353. But I don't think he's helped, either.

[spleen1015]

By not helping, he hurts the team, IMO.

[Frobby]

47 minutes ago, wildcard said:

You say that Phillips didn't work.  I don't see it that way.  Elias paid 500K to get a speed outfielder to platoon with McKenna when Hays was hurt.   That  seems to have worked because the O's are now 12-7 (.632)  in August.  Certainly didn't hurt.

Phillips played in 8 games for us, got 17 PA and had a .353 OPS.   If he made an above average play in the field for us during that short stint, I must have missed it.  He started 4 games and we went 2-2 in those.  Essentially, he didn’t play much, didn’t hit when he did play, and nothing much distinguished him in the field, not that he did anything wrong defensively either.  He was worth -0.1 rWAR in his time here.  Personally I would rather have skipped him and given that opportunity to Stowers.  Is it a big deal?  Not really.  

[bpilktree]

7 hours ago, Roll Tide said:

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that we do that. I think the general sentiment is that a guy like Stowers is under pressure to produce up here when he should be getting his feet wet.

I look at the Red Sox trade for Pham who has been a contributor for them especially against us. He was had for a PTNL (non 40 man or 2022 drafted player). While we don’t know who that player will be it seems like a C+ prospect at A/A+ is probably the ceiling. I can’t help but think how little extra we’d have to give to beat that offer and what little impact it would’ve made to “The Plan”.

The problem is that Pham and Phillips are completely different players and didn't fit what Elias wanted.  He wanted a left handed bat with some speed and a good defender a possible late inning replacement for the bases or defense.  Pham hits from the right side and has decent speed but isnt a good outfielder.   He basically dropped two routine flyballs in the 3 game series we just had with them alone and didnt even get his glove on either one of them.

[mikezpen]

Last nite, Stowers' plate discipline made Odor's look like Ted Williams'. I don't think there's any way he's ready for the Show. I wasn't crazy about their bringing him up here in the first place.

[Sydnor]

4 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

You need to change your M to K.

Actually, M represents thousand in Roman numerals and an older coworker of mine always used to use M when abbreviating thousands ($346M) and MM when abbreviating million ($346MM). So, M technically isn’t wrong here, but I always thought using M to abbreviate thousand was confusing when you could just use K.

[Roll Tide]

7 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I'm interested in how any player is going to learn to hit against really top caliber MLB pitchers who adjust to your tendencies on a daily basis if you're in AAA?

So if you can’t throw enough strikes at AAA or strike out at too high of a rate …why would it be a good idea to be matched up against a higher level of competition? 
 

It just wouldn’t….if you can’t dominate at the level your at a promotion makes no sense. The Os are left desperate because they didn’t address their needs at the trade deadline.

[Roll Tide]

7 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't think Elias is doing/will do anything out of desperation this season.

I think calling up Hall was exactly that ….unless it was to show Hall how far away he is from being ready. Forfeiting a game to show a kid he’s not ready is stupid IMO

You could argue that they didn’t forfeit….but we certainly didn’t give our guys the best chance to win.

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Roll Tide said:

So if you can’t throw enough strikes at AAA or strike out at too high of a rate …why would it be a good idea to be matched up against a higher level of competition? 
 

It just wouldn’t….if you can’t dominate at the level your at a promotion makes no sense. The Os are left desperate because they didn’t address their needs at the trade deadline.

He had an OPs around 900.  He has been crushing upper level MiL pitching, while carrying a very good OBP and hitting tons of homers and extra base hits.  He has nothing left to learn.

He is an “old player” and should be up.  If he strikes out a ton, that’s not a big deal provided that he still Carries a good  OPS.  If he doesn’t do that than he won’t be good and more AAA time isn’t going to change that.

You May not like strikeouts but that doesn’t matter.  It’s all over baseball and it doesn’t matter to the point in charge.  

[Roll Tide]

7 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

You wanted the Orioles to acquire the kind of talent from other teams that they could get without hurting the plan, which would almost certainly be flawed role players.  Since flawless players are never available for spare change.  Because you really, really don't want them to call up flawed players from AAA who cost nothing and are playing well?

Almost every player has a flaw you can exploit sometimes.  If Elias waited to call up Stowers until, say, his strikeout rate improved by 30% he'd still be at Norfolk when he becomes a six year minor league free agent.

Pham is an .800+ OPS player in the 74 at bats since the trade. He was had for a PTBNL. I guarantee it’s not for a prospect that they will miss.

[Roll Tide]

49 minutes ago, bpilktree said:

The problem is that Pham and Phillips are completely different players and didn't fit what Elias wanted.  He wanted a left handed bat with some speed and a good defender a possible late inning replacement for the bases or defense.  Pham hits from the right side and has decent speed but isnt a good outfielder.   He basically dropped two routine flyballs in the 3 game series we just had with them alone and didnt even get his glove on either one of them.

Your right …he picked up a AAAA player that was so bad that he’s been cut already. Great Move! 

[Roll Tide]

4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

He had an OPs around 900.  He has been crushing upper level MiL pitching, while carrying a very good OBP and hitting tons of homers and extra base hits.  He has nothing left to learn.

He is an “old player” and should be up.  If he strikes out a ton, that’s not a big deal provided that he still Carries a good  OPS.  If he doesn’t do that than he won’t be good and more AAA time isn’t going to change that.

You May not like strikeouts but that doesn’t matter.  It’s all over baseball and it doesn’t matter to the point in charge.  

I’m not saying I disagree….but I think Elias could’ve helped the team better without hurting the future via trades.