Mateo Trade Potential

[Frobby]

30 minutes ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

I'm afraid that Frazier will be the Odor of the 2023 O's.  He's "guaranteed" to bounce back to career norms, but sometimes when a player has a bad year, he's just declining to a non MLB player.  

Who is guaranteeing that Frazier bounces back to career norms?  But Odor had several bad years, not one, before the O’s picked him up. 

[sportsfan8703]

We’ll get an answer to our questions pretty soon once ST starts. How much SS is Gunnar going to play?  Will Mateo play OF, and how much?

[waroriole]

17 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

We’ll get an answer to our questions pretty soon once ST starts. How much SS is Gunnar going to play?  Will Mateo play OF, and how much?

Why would Mateo play OF? 

[sportsfan8703]

14 minutes ago, waroriole said:

Why would Mateo play OF? 

Because we have Gunnar. Gunnar might not be a big drop off from Mateo at SS defensively. As it stands now we have some OF PT to be had. 
 

We’ll see what happens in ST. 

[waroriole]

1 minute ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Because we have Gunnar. Gunnar might not be a big drop off from Mateo at SS defensively. As it stands now we have some OF PT to be had. 
 

We’ll see what happens in ST. 

But that doesn’t make sense. If Mateo is playing he should be the SS because he’s our best defensive player and that’s his best defensive position. Why would we have him play a new, less important position?

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Because we have Gunnar. Gunnar might not be a big drop off from Mateo at SS defensively. As it stands now we have some OF PT to be had. 
 

We’ll see what happens in ST. 

I won’t be shocked if Mateo plays a few innings in the OF in spring training, but I doubt it happens in a major league game this year.   

[OriolesMagic83]

3 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

We’ll get an answer to our questions pretty soon once ST starts. How much SS is Gunnar going to play?  Will Mateo play OF, and how much?

I'm thinking more backup catcher.  With a little instruction from Adley, he'll be like Neo in the Matrix.  The only difference is that instead of dodging bullets, he'll be blocking passed balls.

[btdart20]

2 hours ago, waroriole said:

But that doesn’t make sense. If Mateo is playing he should be the SS because he’s our best defensive player and that’s his best defensive position. Why would we have him play a new, less important position?

In theory, if Mateo can play some CF, then McKenna's spot opens up for the better hitters.  

[sportsfan8703]

1 hour ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

I'm thinking more backup catcher.  With a little instruction from Adley, he'll be like Neo in the Matrix.  The only difference is that instead of dodging bullets, he'll be blocking passed balls.

Playing Gunnar at SS fits in with the same thinking as only playing Adley at C.  Positional value with offense.  Gunnar made a few highlight plays in his time at SS last season.  We'll see how Gunnar looks defensively in ST.  We'll also see if Mateo hits, and if he does play some OF.  Also, we'll see how Urias has recovered from his sprained knee he suffered at the end of ST.  When looking at the current make up of this team, there's some PT to be had in COF.  Especially if we want Santander to be a full time DH.  Mateo has experience playing in the OF.  Mateo's individual WAR might suffer from playing COF occasionally, but the goal is our overall W/L record.  

We have a team of universal parts.  There's nothing wrong with Mateo being one of those.  Gotta be a team player.  

 

[Frobby]

39 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Mateo's individual WAR might suffer from playing COF occasionally, but the goal is our overall W/L record.  

We have a team of universal parts.  There's nothing wrong with Mateo being one of those.  Gotta be a team player.  

 

My concern isn’t Mateo’s WAR.   It’s having a .650 OPS hitter in the OF when we have better options.  Of course, McKenna isn’t really any better with the bat.

[forphase1]

4 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Playing Gunnar at SS fits in with the same thinking as only playing Adley at C.  Positional value with offense.  Gunnar made a few highlight plays in his time at SS last season.  We'll see how Gunnar looks defensively in ST.  We'll also see if Mateo hits, and if he does play some OF.  Also, we'll see how Urias has recovered from his sprained knee he suffered at the end of ST.  When looking at the current make up of this team, there's some PT to be had in COF.  Especially if we want Santander to be a full time DH.  Mateo has experience playing in the OF.  Mateo's individual WAR might suffer from playing COF occasionally, but the goal is our overall W/L record.  

We have a team of universal parts.  There's nothing wrong with Mateo being one of those.  Gotta be a team player.  

 

Almost all of Mateos limited value is tied up to his defense ability at ss.  His bat simply isn't good enough to justify playing him in the outfield.  Now maybe if he's a wizard out there too then we could see a late game defensive replacement role for him in the outfield, but given that we know little to nothing about his outfield ability,  I just don't see it.   The bat doesn't justify having him in the lineup in the outfield.

[NCRaven]

Personally, I don't believe that Mateo's bat allows him to be a starting player at any position.  So, if he can add value as a plus defender at multiple positions - 2B, SS, 3B, CF - he will have a place on many teams.

[Can_of_corn]

12 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

Personally, I don't believe that Mateo's bat allows him to be a starting player at any position.  So, if he can add value as a plus defender at multiple positions - 2B, SS, 3B, CF - he will have a place on many teams.

Can he catch?

[forphase1]

20 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

Personally, I don't believe that Mateo's bat allows him to be a starting player at any position.  So, if he can add value as a plus defender at multiple positions - 2B, SS, 3B, CF - he will have a place on many teams.

I strongly agree with this.  I don't like Mateo as a starter due to the poor bat.  But as a pinch runner/defensive replacement type player, he's a very valuable tool to have on your bench.  Just don't want to see him getting 3-4 at bats every game.

[btdart20]

39 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Can he catch?

Can he pitch?