This is a young team. It's time for the coaching staff to step up.

[Jim'sKid26]

8 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Defensive stats are telling?  A OAA of +9 and DRS of +5 last year tell you that Mullins is adequate?

So if you read my reply, I was talking about Hays, not Mullins. 

If we use the Fangraphs data for 2021 and 2022 when he played 1052 innings and 1211 innings in the OF, all of his defensive metrics declined.

DRS: 14-->4

UZR: 6.9-->4.0

OAA: 0--> minus 6

I think Hays has gotten worse defensively if you believe the stats.

[RZNJ]

14 minutes ago, Jim'sKid26 said:

So if you read my reply, I was talking about Hays, not Mullins. 

If we use the Fangraphs data for 2021 and 2022 when he played 1052 innings and 1211 innings in the OF, all of his defensive metrics declined.

DRS: 14-->4

UZR: 6.9-->4.0

OAA: 0--> minus 6

I think Hays has gotten worse defensively if you believe the stats.

This is your EXACT quote on Mullins.

“Mullins has speed and experience but his arm leaves much to be desired. He will get to most balls hit in his direction. He's a adequate defender. “

Do you believe in stats?   Mullins is much better than “adequate”.

[Tony-OH]

I guess I don't understand how Mateo's throw and McKenna's botch catch is on coaching. How do "coach up" guys from locking up in crucial situations? 

Now, if guys were throwing to wrong bases or not covering bases or not lining up relay throws you could have a point, but at the end of the day, we have two terrible errors on plays that should have ended the game. 

I don't know if I've ever seen that in back to back games. Thankfully only one of them cost us a game. 

This game is played by humans and humans make mistakes. While I can understand where you are coming from, I just don't see how these came from a lack of coaching.

[Tony-OH]

9 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

This is your EXACT quote on Mullins.

“Mullins has speed and experience but his arm leaves much to be desired. He will get to most balls hit in his direction. He's a adequate defender. “

Do you believe in stats?   Mullins is much better than “adequate”.

Mullins had a really bad series defensively, but yes, the numbers show that Mullins is a well above average defensive center fielder going back and side to side. It's coming in on balls (which was not his issue in this series) that have given him some issues.

[SemperFi]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

This thread doesn’t get made if McKenna catches that fly ball yesterday. 
 

It’s my understanding that by the time these guys reach the majors, they’re adept at such simple things and the coaches exist for “fine tuning” and advanced concepts.  I don’t know what coaching could have prevented that error yesterday. 
 

IMO, it sits squarely on McKenna’s shoulders for looking away at the last second and not watching the ball all the way in. FWIW, I always thought “two hands” was overrated. Ball hits the heel of your glove and pops out, it’s probably not gonna matter if you had your free hand up there or not. 

The two main fundamental reasons for using two hands as an OF are expedited transfer and looking the ball into your glove-when a ball is caught one handed you can't turn to the glove side and the sightline is briefly interrupted.  

Transfer is more important to set the proper throwing motion and the reason it should be drilled at every practice.  The only reason to catch a ball with one hand is it looks cool.

[Aristotelian]

This team massively outperformed expectations last year. The coaches are doing their jobs. Unfortunately they can't catch the ball for the players.

[Ohfan67]

10 hours ago, Jim'sKid26 said:

I live in Asheville, NC so I watch a lot of Braves games and the local media covers them much more so than the Orioles. 

The Braves are an interesting team. They are young but very talented.

Recently there was an article in the Athletic talking about how the coaching staff for the Braves was, on average, the oldest in baseball.  The author made the observation that the Braves players really connected with the coaches and that the inexperience of players was offset, somewhat, by the experience and cohesiveness of the coaches.  

So, yeah, seriously, I think it's an issue worth talking about. If you don't agree, don't reply to the thread. 

Ref:

Schultz: Braves’ staff of ‘old goats’ succeeding even as baseball skews younger - The Athletic

 

If you don’t agree, then don’t reply to the thread? If you don’t want people to disagree with you, then don’t post and definitely don’t start a silly thread like this one.

 

p.s.  I don’t mean that in a snarky way, believe it or not. Many of us start threads or post something that generates a lot of pushback, especially when posting in response to a very frustrating loss. But seriously this is a place where your opinions are going to get challenged. 

Edited April 3, 2023 by Ohfan67

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

8 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

This team massively outperformed expectations last year. The coaches are doing their jobs. Unfortunately they can't catch the ball for the players.

Or get ownership to open up their wallets and add better pitching depth.

[Jammer7]

I want to see how the OFers look in Texas and at home the next few series before I fault the coaching staff in any way just yet. Yes, there was 5-6 balls the OFers should have caught this series. And yes, Boston had to play in the same weather, so no excuses there. These same guys have been outstanding OFers for several years now, so I don’t see a need for any intervention yet. They are the kind of professionals that will hold themselves accountable. They were bad this series, no doubt. 

As far as the Mateo throw, I’m not worried about his throwing at all. I’m not sure what happened there, but his defense is not a concern for me.

The pitching staff will clean it up too. We really need Bradish and T. Wells to show well the next few nights. The pen needs a breather. Let’s flush the Boston series and move on. 

[Jagwar]

The O's don't have a coaching problem. Or even primarily a defense problem IMO. They have a pitching problem. The pitching staff gave up 27 runs during the series, 24 of them earned, in 3 games. The staff has to step it up, starters and relievers, if the O's are going to make this series the exception instead of the rule for the season.    

[Frobby]

5 hours ago, Jagwar said:

The O's don't have a coaching problem. Or even primarily a defense problem IMO. They have a pitching problem. The pitching staff gave up 27 runs during the series, 24 of them earned, in 3 games. The staff has to step it up, starters and relievers, if the O's are going to make this series the exception instead of the rule for the season.    

I do not think the pitching was good, but to analyze it in terms of earned runs understates the extent that bad defense (or in some cases, lack of good defense) contributed to the number of runs Boston scored.  The O’s FIP in that series was 5.40, xFIP 4.94, SIERA 4.04.  (Statcast xERA is not available.)

[interloper]

This is a silly thread, of course. 

But I did find myself wondering who the leader will end up being on this team. Adley is the guy who makes the team better, but I'm not sure he's the leader just yet. 

The more I think about it, the more I like Hays as one of the leaders. I've given him my fair share of grief over the years, but he's been here a long time, he's fairly dependable at this point, and I think his presence might be more important than I had considered. Especially with so many young position players coming up. Liked his comments supporting McKenna. 

Edited April 3, 2023 by interloper

[Jagwar]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I do not think the pitching was good, but to analyze it in terms of earned runs understates the extent that bad defense (or in some cases, lack of good defense) contributed to the number of runs Boston scored.  The O’s FIP in that series was 5.40, xFIP 4.94, SIERA 4.04.  (Statcast xERA is not available.)

In any case... the Red Sox put up 9, 9 and 9. Pitching, defense, gremlins. I don't care. The O's have to rally and make that series the exception. 

[harp6]

What I have learned about players is that by the law of averages, a player will play above their current ability level 50% of the time and below their current ability level 50% of the time.  It is the coaches job to help raise the bar on the player's current ability level, so that play is elevated.  Raising the bar occurs with reps, instruction, and with fine tuning.  It still doesn't prevent a player from making some bad plays.  Sometimes, those bad plays come in bunches and sometimes there are streaks with very few errors. 

I think it is an error in judgement to judge a coaching staff on a small sample of three games.  As a coach, I certainly do not want others to judge my coaching on a small sample of games.  If the team continually does not perform to expectations, then blame could be put on the coaching.

[foxfield]

On 4/3/2023 at 2:45 PM, harp6 said:

What I have learned about players is that by the law of averages, a player will play above their current ability level 50% of the time and below their current ability level 50% of the time.  It is the coaches job to help raise the bar on the player's current ability level, so that play is elevated.  Raising the bar occurs with reps, instruction, and with fine tuning.  It still doesn't prevent a player from making some bad plays.  Sometimes, those bad plays come in bunches and sometimes there are streaks with very few errors. 

I think it is an error in judgement to judge a coaching staff on a small sample of three games.  As a coach, I certainly do not want others to judge my coaching on a small sample of games.  If the team continually does not perform to expectations, then blame could be put on the coaching.

What this fine man is trying to say is:  what A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.