I am officially in the McKenna got to go camp

[RZNJ]

Just now, eddie83 said:

Sure if you do that. Release him. They aren’t keeping both. 
 

All McKenna needs to do is play solid D and be decent vs LHP. It’s not a huge ask. Have a .750 OPS or so. Mainly get on base. 

McKenna has a career OPS of .620 against LHP but he now has a reputation built on last year.   Maybe he is a .750 guy against LHP.   Maybe not.  The dropped ball in Boston wasn’t the first time.   He has talent and he is a very good of defender.   In this case, I’ll pass on that because I have a bad feeling that he’ll cost us a big game somewhere down the road.

[sportsfan8703]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

McKenna has a career OPS of .620 against LHP but he now has a reputation built on last year.   Maybe he is a .750 guy against LHP.   Maybe not.  The dropped ball in Boston wasn’t the first time.   He has talent and he is a very good of defender.   In this case, I’ll pass on that because I have a bad feeling that he’ll cost us a big game somewhere down the road.

I hate to say it, but that was a big game. We have no other RH option that can play CF that makes sense. Unless you want go with Daz Cameron just to switch it up. 
 

Elias is good at incremental improvements. Those improvements right now look like we need a RH reliever, and an upgrade over Vavra and McKenna. 

[eddie83]

2 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

McKenna has a career OPS of .620 against LHP but he now has a reputation built on last year.   Maybe he is a .750 guy against LHP.   Maybe not.  The dropped ball in Boston wasn’t the first time.   He has talent and he is a very good of defender.   In this case, I’ll pass on that because I have a bad feeling that he’ll cost us a big game somewhere down the road.

Sure. If he doesn’t hit LHP to an acceptable level he really isn’t a good fit.  
 

I’m not ready to move on from him, I am just saying I could see a scenario where we become vulnerable to LHP again. 

[RZNJ]

Just now, eddie83 said:

Sure. If he doesn’t hit LHP to an acceptable level he really isn’t a good fit.  
 

I’m not ready to move on from him, I am just saying I could see a scenario where we become vulnerable to LHP again. 

I don’t care if he hits LHP to an acceptable level.   I’ve seen enough of the other stuff.  It will happen again.   

[sportsfan8703]

Nick Solak is out there in DFA limbo. He’s an IF/OF type. Career .791 OPS vs LHP. He has an option remaining. He’s put up good numbers in the minors and was red hot his first season. 
 

He’s a util RH bat that we are lacking in AAA. 

[banks703]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

I don’t really have a time frame in mind because I think this is a dumb discussion to even have.

But sure, if he is consistently doing this over a larger sampling of games, he needs to be sent down. Crying about it right now is dumb imo.

Would you trade McKenna for Stowers?

 

 

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, Pickles said:

He also has a history of mental blunders.  If you're an OPS 67+ bat you don't get the luxury of making constant mental errors.

This I have to agree with. Your role players need to be heads up guys that do the little things to help a team win. McKenna has always been a guy who has mental lapses on the field. One of his problems in my mind is that he's a "too cool for school" kind of guy. Honestly, I'm having a hard time remembering a guy who made more mental errors in all aspects of his game than McKenna. whether it's dropping a ball, not throwing to the right base, taking too much time to field a ball while the runner takes an extra base, or not running hard on the bases when he expects to be out, the guy does all the little things wrong way too often for a marginal player. 

 

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Tony-OH said:

This I have to agree with. Your role players need to be heads up guys that do the little things to help a team win. McKenna has always been a guy who has mental lapses on the field. One of his problems in my mind is that he's a "too cool for school" kind of guy. Honestly, I'm having a hard time remembering a guy who made more mental errors in all aspects of his game than McKenna. whether it's dropping a ball, not throwing to the right base, taking too much time to field a ball while the runner takes an extra base, or not running hard on the bases when he expects to be out, the guy does all the little things wrong way too often for a marginal player. 

 

Felix Pie?

Jeff Stone?

Nolan Reimold?

[Pickles]

5 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Felix Pie?

Jeff Stone?

Nolan Reimold?

And notice Pie was gone by the time we became competitive.  

There may be a place for McKenna on the 18-22 Orioles.  I don't believe there's a place for him on the 23 and forward Orioles.

[Pickles]

7 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

This I have to agree with. Your role players need to be heads up guys that do the little things to help a team win. McKenna has always been a guy who has mental lapses on the field. One of his problems in my mind is that he's a "too cool for school" kind of guy. Honestly, I'm having a hard time remembering a guy who made more mental errors in all aspects of his game than McKenna. whether it's dropping a ball, not throwing to the right base, taking too much time to field a ball while the runner takes an extra base, or not running hard on the bases when he expects to be out, the guy does all the little things wrong way too often for a marginal player. 

 

Do you remember the circumstances regarding his benching in a MiL playoff series?  That was under the Elias regime, and I remember you writing about it, and mentioning McKenna's mental lapses as being frustrating for the staff.

[Hank Scorpio]

12 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

This I have to agree with. Your role players need to be heads up guys that do the little things to help a team win. McKenna has always been a guy who has mental lapses on the field. One of his problems in my mind is that he's a "too cool for school" kind of guy. Honestly, I'm having a hard time remembering a guy who made more mental errors in all aspects of his game than McKenna. whether it's dropping a ball, not throwing to the right base, taking too much time to field a ball while the runner takes an extra base, or not running hard on the bases when he expects to be out, the guy does all the little things wrong way too often for a marginal player. 

 

It's the dew rag.

[Going Underground]

8 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Do you remember the circumstances regarding his benching in a MiL playoff series?  That was under the Elias regime, and I remember you writing about it, and mentioning McKenna's mental lapses as being frustrating for the staff.

What’s worse, McKenna’s season was plagued by mental errors and sloppy play, which continued even into Bowie’s postseason run.

In game two of Bowie’s division series against Harrisburg, McKenna committed two costly baserunning blunders. In one case, McKenna, at first base, lost track of the count on the next batter, thinking he’d drawn a walk when it was only ball three. He meandered off the bag and was easily picked off. Later, in extra innings, McKenna — representing the winning run at second with one out — got a terrible read on a liner to right field, taking off for third on a ball that was easily caught by the outfielder. He was doubled off to squash the rally. Bowie ultimately lost the game by one run.

Baysox manager Buck Britton, interviewed after the game, sounded like a man who was at his wits’ end with McKenna’s frequent mistakes.

[Jagwar]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I didn’t notice this.  Are you sure he could have advanced safely?  When the play started, Mateo was on 2B preparing to tag up.  Therefore, McKenna could not have just run halfway to 2B while the ball was in the air.   Once the ball was dropped, it was important not to make an out advancing to 2B with Mateo potentially on 3B with one out.  So, I’m not sure this play was black and white.  But honestly I didn’t notice how McKenna ran down to 1B or where he and Mateo were when the ball was dropped.  

Gotta figure, as long as he doesn't pass Mateo he can at least go halfway. Just watched the broadcast again around the 45:40 mark. You can see McKenna is pretty much at 1B when Rooker drops the ball. Kind of fakes going to 2B, but returns to first. The throw actually comes into the cutoff man on the infield grass, not to 2B. If he had been running harder out of the box he could have been halfway and made it to 2B easily.

One correction on my previous post. At first I thought I heard Brown ask if maybe McKenna should have been on 2B. I don't hear that in the replay. My bad.   

[Just Regular]

If Westburg takes to OF okay, he'd enter the conversation for the McKenna role as well.

First couple weeks of Cowser results looking like later rather than sooner, but he's the more durable answer to who is the next nugget to Pipp someone off the fringe of the roster.

[Pickles]

1 minute ago, Going Underground said:

What’s worse, McKenna’s season was plagued by mental errors and sloppy play, which continued even into Bowie’s postseason run.

In game two of Bowie’s division series against Harrisburg, McKenna committed two costly baserunning blunders. In one case, McKenna, at first base, lost track of the count on the next batter, thinking he’d drawn a walk when it was only ball three. He meandered off the bag and was easily picked off. Later, in extra innings, McKenna — representing the winning run at second with one out — got a terrible read on a liner to right field, taking off for third on a ball that was easily caught by the outfielder. He was doubled off to squash the rally. Bowie ultimately lost the game by one run.

Baysox manager Buck Britton, interviewed after the game, sounded like a man who was at his wits’ end with McKenna’s frequent mistakes.

Good catch.  Thanks.

Again, this isn't about one play, and for me it isn't even about physical mistakes.  It's about a pattern of behavior.