Elias makes two things clear; 1st base and Irvin

[wildcard]

Listened to Elias on MASN Hot Stove last night.   While many things are TBD, two things seem firm.

1)  He wants a left-handed hitter to back up Mountcastle at first.   This is not a revelation to many.  But I needed to hear it from him.  He suggested Santander, Vavra, O'Hearn and said he is still looking.   That means no Westburg backing up 1B.  Time for me to adjust.

2) Cole Irvin is in the rotation.    Its being handed to him.  He does not have to earn it.    I take it that its settled, Irvin will be in rotation on March 30 for the beginning of the season.  His two seasons in the majors and the 180 IP are what seems to matter.

His 5.26 ERA outside the Oakland Coliseum does not.   I remain skeptical he can hold the starting spot over Wells and Voth into May.   But I protest too much.  Time to sit back and watch what happens with Irvin.

[btdart20]

The LHH 1B thing makes me wonder how often we’ll be playing the splits…  Not just @ 1B but elsewhere too.

Irvin has already earned over the last few years being an ML starter.

[HakunaSakata]

Apparently the whole point of moving back the leftfield wall was to put the Orioles in a position to justify acquiring / starting mediocre to below average pitchers (Gibson and Irvin). Based on how OPACY ballpark factor is trending I don't see any reason to believe Irvin's success at home won't continue, even if it's to a slightly lesser extent. So worst case scenario you're probably looking at a possible uptick in ERA to the low 4.00s, which certainly isn't going to be enough to get him bumped from the rotation. 

#23 - Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Orioles) - 95.3 Overall Park Factor, 86.0 Fly Ball (24th), 83 Home Run (27th)

Well, the Orioles moved the left field fence way in before the 2022 season, and it clearly had the desired impact. Both its fly ball and home run park factors reached their lowest points over the past decade, and that 83 home run mark marked its first foray below 100 over that span. Even before the fences came in, this park was one of those that yielded homers, but not all that many runs. It hasn’t posted a higher than average doubles or triples park factor over the last decade.

#27 - RingCentral Coliseum (Athletics) - 93.5 Overall Park Factor, 85.9 Fly Ball (25th), 92 Home Run (22nd)

First and foremost, this place is a dump. That said, this marks 10 straight years as a pitchers’ park for RingCentral. When you suppress both homers (8 straight years below 100 HR park factor) and singles (10 straight years), there simply aren’t many avenues to behaving as a hitters’ park.

[Can_of_corn]

Huh.  I learned something.

Someone actually paid to put their name on the Oakland Coliseum.

[Explosivo]

I’ve been trying to tell y’all we are going to be platoon heavy and playing the best match up against whomever we will be facing. We have depth across the board to make that happen. We are going back to Weaver ball baby! 

[OriolesMagic83]

3 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Huh.  I learned something.

Someone actually paid to put their name on the Oakland Coliseum.

Was it a waste management company?

 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

Was it a waste management company?

 

Considering the issues they have had with actual sewage backing up in that dump I don't think that would be a good fit.

[DirtyBird]

Wow. Another thread started by the same person to complain about the obvious fact that Irvin was brought here to be part of the rotation.

[Just Regular]

I think ERA is trending down in importance for the few bulk pitchers like Lyles, Gibson and Irvin compared to its importance for a SP when I was growing up - relievers have grown their share of the pitching jobs from ~25% to ~50%.

Team run prevention - I think there's some of the same alchemy now with SP v. RP as there's always been with Pitching v. Defense, and who should get credit.     Everyone knows Lyles or Irvin's ERA could run high - its more do they keep your Relief Aces fresh enough, and your bullpen in general away from too many Johnny Wholestaff kind of days.

Improved production techniques leading to a proliferation of Driveline Students of the Week is pushing these guys generally out of the game, but having watched Buck burn out Brach on the regular once O'Day/Britton started having absences, I get the role.      Early 2023 with the stronger roster, I'm curious to see if Hyde has quicker hooks for his Lyles characters when they hit middle innings trouble.

[Jagwar]

21 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

Wow. Another thread started by the same person to complain about the obvious fact that Irvin was brought here to be part of the rotation.

Hey ... at least he indicated that he'll back away from Westburg at 1B. Maybe he'll rename him "Mr. Mostly Everywhere"

[Explosivo]

6 minutes ago, Jagwar said:

Hey ... at least he indicated that he'll back away from Westburg at 1B. Maybe he'll rename him "Mr. Mostly Everywhere"

It was foolish for him to think that a guy who’s never played first ever would suddenly be the back up to Mountcastle. At least he finally admits it.

[Aristotelian]

Glad to hear Vavra is under consideration for something, even if it is just backup 1B. He is not your typical big guy but he is lefty and can catch the ball, and put up close to .900 at Norfolk. I'd be more excited to see him than O'Hearn, plus he can cover other positions vs RHP.

Also good to confirm that Elias makes decision based on body of work rather than whoever is hot in spring training. This is as it should be. 

[ThisIsBirdland]

56 minutes ago, HakunaSakata said:

Apparently the whole point of moving back the leftfield wall was to put the Orioles in a position to justify acquiring / starting mediocre to below average pitchers (Gibson and Irvin). Based on how OPACY ballpark factor is trending I don't see any reason to believe Irvin's success at home won't continue, even if it's to a slightly lesser extent. So worst case scenario you're probably looking at a possible uptick in ERA to the low 4.00s, which certainly isn't going to be enough to get him bumped from the rotation. 

#23 - Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Orioles) - 95.3 Overall Park Factor, 86.0 Fly Ball (24th), 83 Home Run (27th)

Well, the Orioles moved the left field fence way in before the 2022 season, and it clearly had the desired impact. Both its fly ball and home run park factors reached their lowest points over the past decade, and that 83 home run mark marked its first foray below 100 over that span. Even before the fences came in, this park was one of those that yielded homers, but not all that many runs. It hasn’t posted a higher than average doubles or triples park factor over the last decade.

#27 - RingCentral Coliseum (Athletics) - 93.5 Overall Park Factor, 85.9 Fly Ball (25th), 92 Home Run (22nd)

First and foremost, this place is a dump. That said, this marks 10 straight years as a pitchers’ park for RingCentral. When you suppress both homers (8 straight years below 100 HR park factor) and singles (10 straight years), there simply aren’t many avenues to behaving as a hitters’ park.

Not sure it was done solely to justify utilizing poor pitchers as much as it was about enticing pitchers in general.

It also ties in to their strong investment of high draft capital into LHBs which was occuring before the wall move (Adley, Gunnar, Stowers, Kjerstad, Cowser). They've since continued with Holliday/Beavers, and then their actions in free agency this year seem to tie in too (Frazier, looking for another potential LH OF/1B).

Seems to me like they're just trying to completely marginalize RH batters at OPACY and develop a competitive advantage with a future LH dominated lineup.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

Huh.  I learned something.

Someone actually paid to put their name on the Oakland Coliseum.

I would have thought Waste Management Inc. would have done it.   

[Frobby]

I’m impressed that @wildcardwill admit it when the evidence goes against a couple of his theories.  Now I’m wondering if Elias calling Ortiz a “defensive wizard” and GRod predicting Ortiz will win a couple of Gold Gloves is enough to convince him that Ortiz is probably a better defensive SS than Gunnar.   

Personally, I don’t share Elias’ craving for a LH bat at 1B, unless it’s a really good LH bat.   In his career, O’Hearn has a .716 OPS vs.  RHP.   There are plenty of RH hitters who can do better than that, so who cares if he’s left-handed?