Not just because of the cycle...but I've been saying this for a while..

[Roy Firestone]

Cedrick Miullins, as an all around player...is the BEST Oriole centerfielder since Paul Blair...

Blair could hit, had occasional power, could run before he broke his leg...and was a gazelle as an outfielder.

Mullins can do everything Paul did, though his arm is a bit suspect...but he has MORE power than Blair did.

You can rank the rest, Bumbry, Adam Jones, throw anyone in there you want...Mulllins is better..

I just hope he keeps it up...Blair was on 2 WS championship teams and a perennial Gold Glove...thats the only difference between Blair and Mullins...

[Baltimorecuse]

When Blair was in Rochester in Triple A  always looked forward Rochester's visits to Syracuse.  Blair dazzled us with his impossible catches.  

The only other Royal I can remember from those days, for some reason, was Curt Blefary.  He used to kill Syracuse pitching.  

I really like Mullins, too.  He joined some really elite O's royalty today.  

 

Edited May 13, 2023 by Baltimorecuse
add on

[vab]

I can't put Mullins ahead of Adam Jones yet overall but he's on his way. 

[baltfan]

5 hours ago, vab said:

I can't put Mullins ahead of Adam Jones yet overall but he's on his way. 

Not enough is said about Adam Jones seeing it and being willing to step aside and even promote Mullins. I know the Orioles are a little pissed at Jones because he vetoed a trade at the end of his career but he was a good dude and is good for Baltimore. Should be brought back into the fold. 

[emmett16]

Ced is 28 (29 10/1) and under contract for 3 more years.  I’d offer him a 4 year contract(5 year max) and see if he bites, but I don’t know if he will be quite the CF at 32/33 as he is right now.  Count me as surprised if he gets an extension/long term contract.  

[emmett16]

5 hours ago, vab said:

I can't put Mullins ahead of Adam Jones yet overall but he's on his way. 

He’s past him for me.  Much better CF.  His offensive  stats ages 26-28 are superior to Jones.  Not by a lot, but better nonetheless.  

[glenn__davis]

I love his demeanor above all else.  In a time where we're supposed to celebrate the antics of the Randy Arozarena's of the world, give me the guy who keeps his cool and just goes about his business.

[Frobby]

7 hours ago, Roy Firestone said:

Cedrick Miullins, as an all around player...is the BEST Oriole centerfielder since Paul Blair...

Blair could hit, had occasional power, could run before he broke his leg...and was a gazelle as an outfielder.

Mullins can do everything Paul did, though his arm is a bit suspect...but he has MORE power than Blair did.

You can rank the rest, Bumbry, Adam Jones, throw anyone in there you want...Mulllins is better..

I just hope he keeps it up...Blair was on 2 WS championship teams and a perennial Gold Glove...thats the only difference between Blair and Mullins...

Blair and Mullins are very different players.   First of all, Mullins plays good defense, but Blair was one of the greatest defensive centerfielders ever.  Blair is easily better than Mullins with the glove.  Give me Mullins with the bat any day.  But caveat: Mullins has to be a major league regular for another 8-10 years to even be mentioned in the same breath as Blair, who wasn’t just good for 3 years, he was a starter for 12 seasons, 8 of which ended with him wearing a Gold Glove.

Adam Jones, Al Bumbry and Brady Anderson all deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Blair.  They all had long, very productive careers.   All were better than Blair offensively.  But none were as good defensively.  Jones did win three Gold Gloves, but the advanced metrics strongly suggest he didn’t deserve them.  I’d put Blair at the top of the list overall, but it’s close.

Overall, the O’s are fortunate to have had 5 CF of that quality.   Just to put in terms of rWAR:

Blair was worth 39.6 rWAR as an Oriole.  His peak season was worth 7.1 rWAR, and he had 4 seasons of 5+ rWAR.

Anderson was worth 34.9 rWAR as an Oriole. His peak season was worth 6.9 rWAR, and he had 3 seasons of 5+ rWAR.

Adam Jones was worth 32.5 rWAR as an Oriole.  His peak season was worth 4.8 rWAR.

Al Bumbry was worth 24.5 rWAR as an Oriole.  His peak season was worth 6.1 rWAR, his only 5+ season.

At this point, Mullins has been worth 10.6 rWAR, with a peak season of 5.9.  He’s on pace for close to 5 WAR this year  .  He’s 28 years old.   By that age (end of the year), Blair had been worth 29.6 rWAR, Jones 25.0, Anderson 7.1, Bumbry 5.6.  You can see that Anderson and Bumbry produced way more value after age 28 than Blair and Jones did.   What will Mullins do after age 28?   Will he be more like Anderson and Bumbry?  If so, maybe he’s considered a comparable player to these four when he’s done.  But if the post-28 years are more like Blair and Jones, he’s not going to be remembered with these four.  And, of course, there’s the pretty strong likelihood that whatever he does, a good portion of it will be with another team, though we’ll see.

 

Edited May 13, 2023 by Frobby

[SemperFi]

Good topic Roy but I think Cedric benefits from playing in an offensive era while Paul's stats suffer from the 60-70's era.  I enjoy watching Cedric but think Blair is a superior player. 

Even though I am not a fan of his-offensive statistics alone put Brady in the discussion.  Paul was a game changer defensively, took away so many hits and advances by playing so shalllow-gave those 20 game winners so much confidence.  Pitching was elite in part because the defense was soooo good.  Paul also know how to handle the bat, did all the little things well and was a very good offensive player (20/20) in a very difficult offensive era-wonder what type of numbers he would have put up in Brady's era (and if he hadn't been beaned).  Brady was decent defensively, good power and OBP skills.  Both were 3X all stars, similar WAR, Paul is the best but Brady deserves discussion.   

Edited May 13, 2023 by SemperFi

[Dunk35]

1 hour ago, emmett16 said:

Ced is 28 (29 10/1) and under contract for 3 more years.  I’d offer him a 4 year contract(5 year max) and see if he bites, but I don’t know if he will be quite the CF at 32/33 as he is right now.  Count me as surprised if he gets an extension/long term contract.  

If he starts to slow down for a CF, put him in left. At OPACY it's crucial to have a good fielding LF and CF. 
 

Mullins approach at the plate doesn't lend itself to prolonged slumps. The flat bat path and line drive approach is huge for him. Id be fine with Mullins on a 4/5 year extension. I think he's an average to above average player all those seasons. 

[SemperFi]

30 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Blair and Mullins are very different players.   First of all, Mullins plays good defense, but Blair was one of the greatest defensive centerfielders ever.  Blair is easily better than Mullins with the glove.  Give me Mullins with the bat any day.  But caveat: Mullins has to be a major league regular for another 8-10 years to even be mentioned in the same breath as Blair, who wasn’t just good for 3 years, he was a starter for 12 seasons, 8 of which ended with him wearing a Gold Glove.

Adam Jones, Al Bumbry and Brady Anderson all deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Blair.  They all had long, very productive careers.   All were better than Blair offensively.  But none were as good defensively.  Jones did win three Gold Gloves, but the advanced metrics strongly suggest he didn’t deserve them.  I’d put Blair at the top of the list overall, but it’s close.

Overall, the O’s are fortunate to have had 5 CF of that quality.   Just to put in terms of rWAR:

Blair was worth 39.6 rWAR as an Oriole.  His peak season was worth 7.1 rWAR, and he had 4 seasons of 5+ rWAR.

Anderson was worth 34.9 rWAR as an Oriole. His peak season was worth 6.9 rWAR, and he had 3 seasons of 5+ rWAR.

Adam Jones was worth 32.5 rWAR as an Oriole.  His peak season was worth 4.8 rWAR.

Al Bumbry was worth 24.5 rWAR as an Oriole.  His peak season was worth 6.1 rWAR, his only 5+ season.

At this point, Mullins has been worth 10.6 rWAR, with a peak season of 5.9.  He’s on pace for close to 5 WAR this year  .  He’s 28 years old.   By that age (end of the year), Blair had been worth 29.6 rWAR, Jones 25.0, Anderson 7.1, Bumbry 5.6.  You can see that Anderson and Bumbry produced way more value after age 28 than Blair and Jones did.   What will Mullins do after age 28?   Will he be more like Anderson and Bumbry?  If so, maybe he’s considered a comparable player to these four when he’s done.  But if the post-28 years are more like Blair and Jones, he’s not going to be remembered with these four.  And, of course, there’s the pretty strong likelihood that whatever he does, a good portion of it will be with another team, though we’ll see.

 

Frobby, I will add Paul was just never the same offensively after the beaning.  

[Aristotelian]

7 hours ago, vab said:

I can't put Mullins ahead of Adam Jones yet overall but he's on his way. 

+1. Cedric had the crazy 30/30 season but hasn't done it long enough or consistently enough to surpass Jones. Nothing against Cedric but Jones is still best in my book. That could change in a couple of years.

Interestingly, their career OPS is very close.

[sportsfan8703]

He was electric last night. Great catches. Base running. Hitting. Everything. 
 

I know we were all mad that AJ refused a trade his last year, but maybe those two months he mentored Mullins really did mean something?

[Frobby]

3 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

He was electric last night. Great catches. Base running. Hitting. Everything. 
 

I know we were all mad that AJ refused a trade his last year, but maybe those two months he mentored Mullins really did mean something?

Then why did Mullins suck so bad in 2019 that he had to be sent to AA?  I don’t think any of Mullins’ success is due to mentoring from Jones.  It’s from his own hard work. 

[InsideCoroner]

Somewhere, Ken Gerhart sits looking dejectedly at his phone in the dark, his face bathed in the soft orange and white glow of Orioles Hangout, a solitary tear tracing down his cheek.