Westburg is near ready

[interloper]

1 hour ago, RZNJ said:

Elias believes in Frazier or he wouldn't have given him 8 million.   He's not about to admit he was wrong after 17 days.

Well, he believes in Frazier as depth at the very least. I'm not sure Elias has much faith that Frazier will suddenly revert to an All-Star. But he's a solid defender who he feels is worth paying for as multi-positional depth. Bonus that he's a lefty. 

In a vacuum, Frazier is a sensible depth signing. However, that vacuum also happens to contain like 4 other very good infield prospects all at AAA (and one on the roster in Vavra) who could almost certainly out-perform Frazier. So, yeah, depth is great. But it's kind of overkill in this scenario IMO. 

[RZNJ]

14 minutes ago, deward said:

I think we have enough of a track record at this point to say that, for better or for worse, Elias is very stubborn about sticking to his plans. I'll be shocked if he phases out Frazier at any point before the all-star break, regardless of how poorly he may play.

I think this is a lot different than Odor.   There were not the same options to replace Odor as we have now to replace Frazier.   At the same time, Odor was making peanuts and they've invested a lot more in Frazier.   It kind of balances out to where Frazier is going to get a fair amount of rope even if he's not hitting.

[RZNJ]

9 minutes ago, interloper said:

Well, he believes in Frazier as depth at the very least. I'm not sure Elias has much faith that Frazier will suddenly revert to an All-Star. But he's a solid defender who he feels is worth paying for as multi-positional depth. Bonus that he's a lefty. 

In a vacuum, Frazier is a sensible depth signing. However, that vacuum also happens to contain like 4 other very good infield prospects all at AAA (and one on the roster in Vavra) who could almost certainly out-perform Frazier. So, yeah, depth is great. But it's kind of overkill in this scenario IMO. 

Teams like the Orioles don't pay 8M for a utility player.   Frazier is a starter at 2B who can fill in in the OF in an emergency.

[interloper]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

Teams like the Orioles don't pay 8M for a utility player.   Frazier is a starter at 2B who can fill in in the OF in an emergency.

Oh I agree. He's going to be a starter, but if he does get eventually phased out, he will become an expensive bench player. But for that to happen he would have to seriously crater over a long stretch. Right now it looks like it will take an injury to Urias or Mateo to get Westburg up here. 

[Frobby]

Just now, RZNJ said:

I think this is a lot different than Odor.   There were not the same options to replace Odor as we have now to replace Frazier.   At the same time, Odor was making peanuts and they've invested a lot more in Frazier.   It kind of balances out to where Frazier is going to get a fair amount of rope even if he's not hitting.

Frazier and Odor also are about as different stylistically as is possible.  Odor was a high K guy who occasionally would launch one.  Frazier is a high contact guy with very limited power.   Odor was sometimes flashy but basically erratic defensively, Frazier is reliably steady.  I think Frazier will be far less frustrating to watch, but perhaps won’t supply the highlight reel moments we occasionally got from Odor.  

[RZNJ]

5 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Frazier and Odor also are about as different stylistically as is possible.  Odor was a high K guy who occasionally would launch one.  Frazier is a high contact guy with very limited power.   Odor was sometimes flashy but basically erratic defensively, Frazier is reliably steady.  I think Frazier will be far less frustrating to watch, but perhaps won’t supply the highlight reel moments we occasionally got from Odor.  

Odor pulled the ball a lot and struck out a lot.   Frazier makes a lot of contact but I can tell you that if all of that contact comes with a lot of GDP and outs it's going to be more frustrating than Odor.

[Pickles]

3 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Odor pulled the ball a lot and struck out a lot.   Frazier makes a lot of contact but I can tell you that if all of that contact comes with a lot of GDP and outs it's going to be more frustrating than Odor.

Only if watching a better player is more frustrating than watching a worse one.

[interloper]

Frazier started to look a little better at the end of camp, so I'm hoping he can at least maintain what he did last year, which wasn't great, but it wasn't Odor either. 

His quotes about the hitting coaches haven't seemed... enthusiastic? I'm not sure they are meshing very well. But he's also perhaps the most boring player interview I have ever seen. Just excruciating to listen to. Vanilla is too exciting an adjective to describe Frazier. 

Edited March 28, 2023 by interloper

[Moose Milligan]

3 minutes ago, interloper said:

  But he's also perhaps the most boring player interview I have ever seen.  

 

[interloper]

2 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

 

I'm telling you, it's worse. 

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

I'm telling you, it's worse. 

Oh man, this should be rich.

 

 

[RZNJ]

12 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Only if watching a better player is more frustrating than watching a worse one.

I'm talking on offense.   IF Frazier has a low 600 OPS with lots of contact and little power, I think most fans will find that more frustrating the Odor with his occasional power.

[Ripken]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

Oh man, this should be rich.

I saw the interview on MASN yesterday.  My laptop's disability screen reader has more personality.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, interloper said:

I'm telling you, it's worse. 

You mean, I’m telling you, you know, it’s worse.  

[OriolesMagic83]

1 hour ago, RZNJ said:

I'm talking on offense.   IF Frazier has a low 600 OPS with lots of contact and little power, I think most fans will find that more frustrating the Odor with his occasional power.

Well it will be less exciting.  Odor seemed to be always in the middle of the action, whether it was being guardian of the home run chain, hitting a dramatic home run or flubbing an easy out.