Joey Ortiz 2023

[HandsomeQuack]

1 minute ago, DirtyBird said:

He or Voth would be the next man up in the rotation if a starter went down with injury right now.

I think Irvin, DL Hall, Watkins, and Voth would all be ahead of him. He's 28 and has already gotten his chances

[Pickles]

Just now, sportsfan8703 said:

Yup. I think is the primary 2B for now. Frazier to RF. Is it crazy to want to try Mateo in the OF? 

I think he and Frazier will run a pretty strict platoon tbh.  I don't forsee Frazier in the outfield much, and if he's needed out there, then they need to get a true outfielder on the roster.

I wasn't opposed to Mateo getting some spring training run in the OF, but with the way he is playing, it would be crazy imo to mess with it now.

[waroriole]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

Yea not me and Kreihbel almost definitely won’t be claimed.

OHearn or even Vavra likely don’t claimed either.

I could see OHearn clearing waivers since he has the 1.8M contract. If he’s not gonna play 1B somewhat regularly, he’s just wasting space. But I guess Elias is still pretending that he should be on the ML roster. I think Vavra would get claimed and I wouldn’t take the risk just to get Westburg on the roster over Ortiz. 
 

Ideally, we’d see Westburg and Ortiz up, with Vavra sent down and OHearn DFA. 

[glenn__davis]

48 minutes ago, waroriole said:

With Mateo off to such a hot start, it seems like Westburg would make more sense. He has the better bat. 

You sure?  

Ortiz career OPS at AAA is 0.937.  Westburg's is .886.  And Ortiz has the better glove by just about all accounts.

Again the 40-man may have been a consideration but you can easily make the case that Ortiz is the better prospect anyway.

[Just Regular]

Also with this it reminds me of the "shift-enabled 2B" shade Fangraphs Longenhagen threw at Westburg in the offseason.

Earl in Weaver on Strategy wrote of using his best defenders as the starting lineup (granted on rosters of 16 Bats and 9 Arms), and I remember early Elias giving a quote like the Up the Middle personnel are something he thinks about everyday (sorry any 1B named Ryan about the lack of scarcity to your skillset).

It feels like there's a chance this is the best Starting 2B Hyde's gotten to write in in his tenure.    I hope at least a week or so he gets the Raysian "you're batting 9th, go field and don't worry about anything else" assurance.    Also a helpful nudge for Mateo climbing the 1-9 more routinely.

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

He or Voth would be the next man up in the rotation if a starter went down with injury right now.

Sure..but that doesn’t mean you expose better overall players and it doesn’t mean you leave better players in the minors.

[waroriole]

Just now, glenn__davis said:

You sure?  

Ortiz career OPS at AAA is 0.937.  Westburg's is .886.  And Ortiz has the better glove by just about all accounts.

Again the 40-man may have been a consideration but you can easily make the case that Ortiz is the better prospect anyway.

How many ABs is that?

[DirtyBird]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

Sure..but that doesn’t mean you expose better overall players and it doesn’t mean you leave better players in the minors.

Westburg is a better starting pitcher than Zimmerman?

[emmett16]

1 hour ago, RVAOsFan said:

I am thinking Ortiz is penciled in as the starting 2B primarily while he is up.  I also wonder if the Mateo injury may be still an issue and Ortiz is up to spell him a little.  Tonight's lineup will be telling.

I bet they debut him at his primary position SS.  Then start the merry-go-round.  Give Mateo another rest day against a weak Detroit team. 

[waroriole]

4 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I probably should have said maximizing assets.  They're not going to jam up their 40 until they have to.

P.S. I'm not sure there is evidence to confirm Westburg is a better play than Ortiz, nor that he fits better.

In this case the better fit would be the better bat since Mateo has SS locked down. Maybe Ortiz ends up the better hitter, but now I’d say that is Westburg. 

[Sports Guy]

Just now, DirtyBird said:

Westburg is a better starting pitcher than Zimmerman?

Yep, that’s exactly what I’m saying.  FFS

[Pickles]

Just now, waroriole said:

In this case the better fit would be the better bat since Mateo has SS locked down. Maybe Ortiz ends up the better hitter, but now I’d say that is Westburg. 

They've performed comparably at AAA.  I'm not sure you can say definitively who is the better hitter.

And from all reports Ortiz is the better defender, yes at SS, but also presumably 2b and 3b as well.

[glenn__davis]

3 minutes ago, waroriole said:

How many ABs is that?

187 PAs for Ortiz, 486 for Westburg.  Neither too small nor too large a sample size for either to definitively state which is the better bat.

I don't know which one will end up being the better player, and we all know they both could still bust, but to act like Westburg is clearly superior and the only reason that Ortiz got the call was because of the 40-man does a disservice to what Ortiz has done.

[Bemorewins]

8 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Yup. I think is the primary 2B for now. Frazier to RF. Is it crazy to want to try Mateo in the OF? 

I’m not going to say that it’s crazy. But I will say it doesn’t make much sense to displace our best defensive SS and one of the best in the league. Nobody that we have profiles to be better than him defensively.

[DirtyBird]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Yep, that’s exactly what I’m saying.  FFS

You might as well be saying that. Because exposing Zimmerman to get Westburg would be dumb when there is not much other starting pitching depth on the 40 man roster