Hyde on the Infield plans

[Just Regular]

 

[Sports Guy]

I’m surprised they aren’t moving Mateo around some, especially in the OF.

[interloper]

8 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I’m surprised they aren’t moving Mateo around some, especially in the OF.

The Mateo OF thing has always seemed like an OH-specific thing. They already have McKenna who is arguably a better hitter than Mateo and a professional OF by trade, and also plenty fast enough. I guess you could stack righties in the OF with a Mateo/McKenna/Hays OF left to right, but at that point I'd rather just have Mullins in there. 

To me, it makes sense to keep Mateo exactly where he accumulated the majority of his value, which was by playing elite SS defense. 

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

The Mateo OF thing has always seemed like an OH-specific thing. They already have McKenna who is arguably a better hitter than Mateo and a professional OF by trade, and also plenty fast enough. I guess you could stack righties in the OF with a Mateo/McKenna/Hays OF left to right, but at that point I'd rather just have Mullins in there. 

To me, it makes sense to keep Mateo exactly where he accumulated the majority of his value, which was by playing elite SS defense. 

Couldn’t agree more.   Mateo is the best defensive SS on the team.  If he’s in the lineup, why play him anywhere else?

[Sports Guy]

12 minutes ago, interloper said:

The Mateo OF thing has always seemed like an OH-specific thing. They already have McKenna who is arguably a better hitter than Mateo and a professional OF by trade, and also plenty fast enough. I guess you could stack righties in the OF with a Mateo/McKenna/Hays OF left to right, but at that point I'd rather just have Mullins in there. 

To me, it makes sense to keep Mateo exactly where he accumulated the majority of his value, which was by playing elite SS defense. 

Hyde and Elias constantly push the idea of versatility. 
 

They have the best C in baseball playing first.

Everyone is playing all over the place but not Mateo?

Thats surprising.

[Pickles]

10 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Couldn’t agree more.   Mateo is the best defensive SS on the team.  If he’s in the lineup, why play him anywhere else?

To be contrarian, and I love Mateo's defense as much as anybody, but versatility.  If he's not going to be your everyday starting shortstop, then he's a utility player.  And a utility player that can play more than one position has more value than a utility player who doesn't.

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

Hyde and Elias constantly push the idea of versatility. 
 

They have the best C in baseball playing first.

Everyone is playing all over the place but not Mateo?

Thats surprising.

Not comparable.  The only reason Rutschman will play anywhere but C is to keep the wear and tear down while keeping his bat in the lineup.  SS doesn’t have the same wear and tear, and nobody’s worried about keeping his bat in the lineup.   

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

Not comparable.  The only reason Rutschman will play anywhere but C is to keep the wear and tear down while keeping his bat in the lineup.  SS doesn’t have the same wear and tear, and nobody’s worried about keeping his bat in the lineup.   

Of course it’s comparable.

It’s the team’s philosophy. They want versatility from everyone. So, they want everyone to be versatile except Mateo?  That’s odd to me.  

 

[interloper]

4 minutes ago, Pickles said:

To be contrarian, and I love Mateo's defense as much as anybody, but versatility.  If he's not going to be your everyday starting shortstop, then he's a utility player.  And a utility player that can play more than one position has more value than a utility player who doesn't.

This is why ultimately I think he should be traded. Because he's not really a utility player and you already have a better utility option in Urias. Mateo's bat isn't replacing anyone in the lineup other than Frazier and, again, you have Urias for that. 

[RZNJ]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

Of course it’s comparable.

It’s the team’s philosophy. They want versatility from everyone. So, they want everyone to be versatile except Mateo?  That’s odd to me.  

 

I think part of the versatility in the IF is because they’re still not sure what they have in Mateo.   I think they hold out hope that he’ll hit.  If he does, he becomes a very valuable commodity as a starting SS.   The commitment to SS only with Mateo is “you’re the man”.   The team is showing confidence in him and hopefully he can relax and commit to the improvements he made last year.   At the same time, we know he’s on trial for his job.  He’s trade bait either way mid season or next off season.

[Aristotelian]

12 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Hyde and Elias constantly push the idea of versatility. 
 

They have the best C in baseball playing first.

Everyone is playing all over the place but not Mateo?

Thats surprising.

He can't hit and we have better all around options at every other position. Even if he's needed to play some 2B, playing SS this spring probably isn't going to hurt him any. So I can see why they would stick with SS in the spring. 

[Number5]

2 minutes ago, interloper said:

This is why ultimately I think he should be traded. Because he's not really a utility player and you already have a better utility option in Urias. Mateo's bat isn't replacing anyone in the lineup other than Frazier and, again, you have Urias for that. 

I don't know.  It seems to me that Mateo may be platooning with Frazier, with Gunnar at SS and Urias at 3B when Mateo sits; and Gunnar at 3B with Urias at 2B when Frazier sits.  Occasionally both Mateo and Frazier would be in, giving Gunnar or Urias a blow.  That seems to jibe with what Hyde is saying, doesn't it?

[Pickles]

2 minutes ago, interloper said:

This is why ultimately I think he should be traded. Because he's not really a utility player and you already have a better utility option in Urias. Mateo's bat isn't replacing anyone in the lineup other than Frazier and, again, you have Urias for that. 

Personally, I think Mateo's a potentially better option as a utility guy than Urias because of the elite SS defense and the elite speed off the bench.  I think it also boils down to what's exactly is a utility guy or a bench guy or a platoon guy.  Exactly what role are you looking to fill.

I don't want Mateo getting starts in LF or 2b or 3b.  For me, he'd start against lefties at SS, and then would be used as a sub late in games, to either pinch run or to play elite SS defense, or if it made sense to play elite defense at 2b/3b, or in the outfield, all of which I think he is capable of doing.

Now, if we're talking about getting regular starts at 2b and 3b then yeah, I'd prefer Urias.

But I don't think Mateo is hurt in any way by seeing if he can't handle the outfield and 3b and I'm a bit surprised the O's aren't going to experiment at least a little in ST.  This suggests to me he either has a much bigger role than I anticipated, or a much smaller one.

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

He can't hit and we have better all around options at every other position. Even if he's needed to play some 2B, playing SS this spring probably isn't going to hurt him any. So I can see why they would stick with SS in the spring. 

We have better options..if guys are healthy and performing.

If not, you may need Mateo to play elsewhere.

It’s just an insurance policy. Not saying he has to play in regular season games in other positions but to not be ready as a just in case, when you preach versatility all the time?

That surprises me. I think it also tells you they really doubt his bat anywhere else on the diamond.

[Frobby]

I just don’t think this is complicated. On any day that Mateo is in the lineup, the best defensive alignment involves putting him at SS.   So it’s best for him to spend his time working on his craft at SS, rather than moving him around.  In fact, Eve Rosenbaum attributed his defensive excellence there last year to the fact that they put him in one spot and let him concentrate on that.   His bat will influence how much he plays, but when he does play, it makes sense to have him at SS and have the other fielders move around.   As I said before, Earl Weaver never once played Mark Belanger anywhere but SS in the 12.5 years he managed him, though Belanger did ride the bench at times due to his weak bat.