Hyde on the Infield plans

[LookinUp]

6 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I will take your refusal to create an actual scenario where it makes sense for Mateo to play anywhere else but SS as your defeat in this discussion.

Santander and Hays are dinged with injuries. Mateo pitch runs in the 7th. During practice he shows he's a far superior outfielder to Frazier, Henderson and Urias, so they stay in the infield and Mateo goes to the OF.

[LookinUp]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

Rojas is 34 so maybe he’s on the downside but his career OPS is .672.

Yeah. His 3 years before last were decent. Interesting to see what the Dodgers are thinking.

[Sports Guy]

4 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

Yeah. His 3 years before last were decent. Interesting to see what the Dodgers are thinking.

But he’s 34 and a MIer. Could fall off a cliff at any moment.

Hard to imagine they are ok with him as the starting SS.  Otoh, it’s also hard to imagine they view Mateo as that much of an upgrade that they trade decent young assets for him.

Guess it depends on how they view Mateo and where they think Rojas is in his career.

[HakunaSakata]

2 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

Yeah. His 3 years before last were decent. Interesting to see what the Dodgers are thinking.

It's also worth noting that Vargas (tentatively penciled in as their starting 2B) is dealing with a hairline fracture in his pinky finger. All that said I'm iffy on if they'll make a move since they still have some other guys like Muncy and Taylor who they can shift around a bit to other positions if needed. There was even some talk at one point of playing Betts a bit at 2B this season.

[interloper]

Jose Iglesias is out there still if they want a cheap reserve SS. 

[RarityFlaherty]

6 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

Santander and Hays are dinged with injuries. Mateo pitch runs in the 7th. During practice he shows he's a far superior outfielder to Frazier, Henderson and Urias, so they stay in the infield and Mateo goes to the OF.

I feel like Mullins would have to be hurt too and Mateo would have to be filling in at CF. With his speed, I see no reason to put Mateo anywhere besides SS or CF, if he’s on the field. 

[interloper]

I don't buy that injuries are even a reason to move Mateo around. There's plenty of depth/experience at each position if there's a significant injury. 

[eddie83]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

That's disappointing. While I do think Westburg can play effectively at 2B and 3B, he really should get some 1B time. Hopefully he just means this spring in games because there are so many current options there. He should get some playing time this year at 1B IMHO.

Here is where I saw it. Not much detail.  

[Tony-OH]

4 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

Santander and Hays are dinged with injuries. Mateo pitch runs in the 7th. During practice he shows he's a far superior outfielder to Frazier, Henderson and Urias, so they stay in the infield and Mateo goes to the OF.

Wouldn't the Orioles still have Mullins, Stowers, Vavra and McKenna to play the OF? 

Even in your scenario, you would rather have a Urias, Henderson, Frazier infield with Mateo in the OF, vs Henderson, Mateo, Urias with Frazier in the outfield? I don't think the Orioles would.

At the end of the day, the Orioles best defensive alignment when Mateo plays is at SS, and even if some crazy scenario occurred with multiple injuries, the Orioles are just going to run him out to whatever position anyways so he doesn't need to move around during spring training. 

At the end of the day, it is silly to suggest that Mateo needs to move around this spring to show he's versatile or that it goes against anything the Orioles currently do with keeping players versatile. 

 

[Tony-OH]

4 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

Here is where I saw it. Not much detail.  

This could mean two things in my mind. They feel Westburg has more value in trade if he's considered a 3B/SS/2B infielder and also that they do NOT view him as a first base option if something happens to Mountcastle or if he struggles badly this year.

I think it would be bad if O'Hearn/Lewis/rest of the cast of 1B rejects are getting everyday PAs playing first base with the Orioles while Westburg is tearing it up in AAA while being blocked at 3B/SS/2B.

 

[Jammer7]

39 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

This could mean two things in my mind. They feel Westburg has more value in trade if he's considered a 3B/SS/2B infielder and also that they do NOT view him as a first base option if something happens to Mountcastle or if he struggles badly this year.

I think it would be bad if O'Hearn/Lewis/rest of the cast of 1B rejects are getting everyday PAs playing first base with the Orioles while Westburg is tearing it up in AAA while being blocked at 3B/SS/2B.

 

I don’t really see Westburg at 1B, not now anyway. If there is no room for him in the Orioles infield plans, trade him. Or, they introduce him to the OF. Maybe in a super UT role, or permanent switch to OF. I mean, the guy is a very good athlete, and the consensus seems to say the bat is going to play. Find a spot for him, somewhere. Perhaps the arm plays better from the OF, a longer throwing motion. 

[LookinUp]

1 hour ago, RarityFlaherty said:

I feel like Mullins would have to be hurt too and Mateo would have to be filling in at CF. With his speed, I see no reason to put Mateo anywhere besides SS or CF, if he’s on the field. 

I agree. It would be very rare to the point of pointless unless they discovered they had a plus CF on their hands. You could argue he could be the 9th inning defender as a COF if we had someone like Ortiz manning SS.

[eddie83]