Vavra vs. O’Hearn

[Bird Is The Word]

Unless Vavra totally falls apart the job is his.Which is fine by me:The tools he has works better imo for this team anyway.

[Moose Milligan]

38 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

All winter long Elias talked about a LHH backup for 1B. Henderson/Urias at 3rd, Henderson/Mateo SS, Frazier/Urias at 2nd. Hays, Mullins, Santander, Stowers, McKenna OF. Frazier can play OF in a pinch. It’s not like they don’t have those spots covered. 
 

Is Vavra more versatile? yes. There may be some strategy as to when/if they want to give O’Hearn a chance. I have nothing against Vavra but if Elias had a specific role he wanted filled I can see them going with O’Hearn. Not sure what route they go on OD. Do they go ahead and say let’s see what O’Hearn in limited at bats? or send him to AAA and see how Vavra in limited duty handles 1B. 

I'd love to understand the strategy for giving O'Hearn and his career -2.5 WAR and 83 OPS+ a chance.  

With robust stats like that, the fact that he's a lefty is like ignoring that you're going to Cici's for pizza.  Yeah, it's pizza and pizza is hard to mess up but damn they're trying their bestest to do it.  You're going to walk away unfulfilled, hating your life and having to reach for a giant bottle of Pepto as you race to the toilet later on.

That's the analogy I came up for the fact that Ryan O'Hearn is a lefty.  If Elias would like to battle me on this, he can DM me.

[eddie83]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

I'd love to understand the strategy for giving O'Hearn and his career -2.5 WAR and 83 OPS+ a chance.  

With robust stats like that, the fact that he's a lefty is like ignoring that you're going to Cici's for pizza.  Yeah, it's pizza and pizza is hard to mess up but damn they're trying their bestest to do it.  You're going to walk away unfulfilled, hating your life and having to reach for a giant bottle of Pepto as you race to the toilet later on.

That's the analogy I came up for the fact that Ryan O'Hearn is a lefty.  If Elias would like to battle me on this, he can DM me.

May have something to do with his exit velocity and lack of a shift.
 

In a limited role vs RHP they think he may be effective. 

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, eddie83 said:

May have something to do with his exit velocity and lack of a shift.
 

In a limited role vs RHP they think he may be effective. 

I don't care about exit velocity if the guy has a hard time making contact.  He was in the 68th percentile last year.

I get that Elias is the smartest guy in the room but the fascination with guys who stand in the left handed batters box is a puzzling one to me.  

 

[Sanity Check]

8 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I don't care about exit velocity if the guy has a hard time making contact.  He was in the 68th percentile last year.

I get that Elias is the smartest guy in the room but the fascination with guys who stand in the left handed batters box is a puzzling one to me.  

 

I think the fascination is in the possible ability to reach the porch/seats in right field, and the fact that we have our right handed first baseman.  It just so happens that those who stand in the left handed batters box, statistically, hit to right field more often than those in the right handed batters box.

That being said, your concern about have CiCi O'Hearn and his muted historical stats is very valid, and  I can only guess that Elias is/was looking for lightning in a bottle with one of the lefties he brought in.   But you're spot on with what the numbers tell you....

[PsychoBird68]

3 hours ago, wildcard said:

I think McKenna is pretty safe.   He is Mullins backup in CF and may be a platoon with Mullins.    McKenna's competition in camp is Cameron who has not shown he can hit and Cordero who does not have a very good history offensively.

McKenna is coming off hitting for a 794 OPS vs lefties last season.   That should keep him on the team at least until Cowser is ready in June.

Hays can back up Mullins and that 794 OPS vs lefties was a very small sample size for McKenna and he was terrible against righties....  Mullins will not be Platooned  

[eddie83]

33 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I don't care about exit velocity if the guy has a hard time making contact.  He was in the 68th percentile last year.

I get that Elias is the smartest guy in the room but the fascination with guys who stand in the left handed batters box is a puzzling one to me.  

 

Is his K rate that abnormal?

Let’s stop having 3 fielders on one side of the ball and go with 2. Let’s add someone who hits the ball hard and albeit in a brief number of at bats had lower than expected production. Let’s put that player in a park more conducive to his skill set and give him probably at most 150-200 at bats. Let’s play him in matchups that favor him. 

[sportsfan8703]

16 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

He’s also willing to work a count and take a walk. 88 point difference between his batting average and on base percentage last year. 
 

The notion that every guy on the bench needs to hit for power is silly and exhausting. His doubles power is fine, as you noted. 
 

 

Vavra is back in the lineup tonight at 3B. 

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Vavra is back in the lineup tonight at 3B. 

Well thank goodness he's off his phantom IL stay, right?

Hopefully he can make it out without pulling or tweaking something.  

[Il BuonO]

33 minutes ago, PsychoBird68 said:

Hays can back up Mullins and that 794 OPS vs lefties was a very small sample size for McKenna and he was terrible against righties....  Mullins will not be Platooned  

Hmm, could have sworn Mullins saw less ABs vs LHP pitching last year after he struggled against them the first few months. Mullins can be platooned and probably should be if he shows again he can't hit LHP.

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, PsychoBird68 said:

Hays can back up Mullins and that 794 OPS vs lefties was a very small sample size for McKenna and he was terrible against righties....  Mullins will not be Platooned  

In Camden Yards both center and left require outfielders with speed. You say Hays can back up Mullins.  Yes, but that is a down grade  in range and then if Hays is in center there has to be a speedy guy in left.    Until they feel Cowser is ready for the majors McKenna is the speedy backup.

Edited March 10, 2023 by wildcard

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, wildcard said:

In Camden Yard both center and left require outfielders with speed. You say Hays can back up Mullins.  Yes, but that is a down grade  in range and then if Hays is in center there has to be a speedy guy in left.    Until they feel Cowser is ready for the majors McKenna is the speedy backup.

If you have an outfielder with average speed that is well positioned, runs solid routes and gets good jumps you'll be fine.

Better than if you have a speed guy that doesn't bring the rest to the party.

[wildcard]

5 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

If you have an outfielder with average speed that is well positioned, runs solid routes and gets good jumps you'll be fine.

Better than if you have a speed guy that doesn't bring the rest to the party.

But Mullins, Hays and McKenna all field well and are speedy.   And average speed guy would downgrade the defense.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, wildcard said:

But Mullins, Hays and McKenna all field well and are speedy.   And average speed guy would downgrade the defense.

Which is irrelevant to what was being discussed????

It also isn't an absolute truth because there is more to outfield defense than pure speed.  Nolan Reimold had above average speed, was he a good defender?

[OriolesMagic83]

17 hours ago, EricK said:

In other words, do you pay O'Hearn to be in the minors for $1.4M and pay Vavra the MLB league minimum or do you save some money and pay O'Hearn what you are obligated to pay him and send Vavra down to AAA at much less than the MLB league minimum.  I think that is the question.

So are we about to find out how cheap the Orioles/Angelos are?  I hope not.