Bench Mountcastle, start O’Hearn

[waroriole]

5 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Mountcastle used to play the outfield some....that might be a path to some extra at-bats if he is unable to return to the best nine overall position players.

He used to stand in the OF. Then the Orioles decided Mancini and DJ Stewart were better OFs. 

[bpilktree]

18 hours ago, MurphDogg said:

Urias, Mateo and Frazier are all just taking up space at this point, just as we all thought (hoped) they would be if Westburg, Ortiz, and Norby dominated AAA and Gunnar didn't have any major hiccups (three out of four ain't bad, Norby has been fine but not dominant, and Prieto isn't far away either with Mayo behind him). Frazier has the veteranosity and is supposedly a great clubhouse presence, but all three of them could be jettisoned without expected production falling too much.

Exciting problems to have and I expect they all will be sorted out by the winter, if not before.

Urias is definitely the odd man out as the one place you could need another hitter is vs lefties with Frazier and Henderson being left handed and don’t him them well, but Urias doesn’t hit lefties well so it voids him out of the platoon option that could fit.  Mateo actually should get most the starts vs left handers.  Mateo’s base stealing, defense and ability to hit left handers should keep him on the team longer then Urias.  

[sportsfan8703]

16 minutes ago, bpilktree said:

Urias is definitely the odd man out as the one place you could need another hitter is vs lefties with Frazier and Henderson being left handed and don’t him them well, but Urias doesn’t hit lefties well so it voids him out of the platoon option that could fit.  Mateo actually should get most the starts vs left handers.  Mateo’s base stealing, defense and ability to hit left handers should keep him on the team longer then Urias.  

I would much rather have Urias than Mountcastle. Mountcastle can be our hitter September call up. Or he can come up and as a match up hitter. First, he needs to hit in AAA. 
 

We all gotta get over the fact that Mountcastle was penciled into the 4 spot. We were a much different team. No Hicks, Westburg, and Cowser. Gunnar wasn’t popping off yet. Mullins was hurt. If Mountcastle makes it back, he’ll be hitting in the 6th/7th spot. Maybe 5th. And that’s against LHP. 

[25 Nuggets]

10 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I would much rather have Urias than Mountcastle. Mountcastle can be our hitter September call up. Or he can come up and as a match up hitter. First, he needs to hit in AAA. 
 

We all gotta get over the fact that Mountcastle was penciled into the 4 spot. We were a much different team. No Hicks, Westburg, and Cowser. Gunnar wasn’t popping off yet. Mullins was hurt. If Mountcastle makes it back, he’ll be hitting in the 6th/7th spot. Maybe 5th. And that’s against LHP. 

I agree, Urias is simply more versatile than Mountcastle.  You can also put Santander at 1B, which is what the team is doing.

Once Hays gets back, every position player falls in place IMO.  Mateo doesn't hit but he's perfect for the role of defensive replacement, pinch runner and occasional start vs lefties.  Maybe you can improve on McCann at backup catcher but it's not easy to find one that hits well and catches well - those guys start most games.

O'Hearn's surge could not have come at a better time as he's become an integral part of the lineup.  1B vs LHP can be sorted out in the aggregate, like what they're doing with the DH spot.

[bpilktree]

3 hours ago, 25 Nuggets said:

I agree, Urias is simply more versatile than Mountcastle.  You can also put Santander at 1B, which is what the team is doing.

Once Hays gets back, every position player falls in place IMO.  Mateo doesn't hit but he's perfect for the role of defensive replacement, pinch runner and occasional start vs lefties.  Maybe you can improve on McCann at backup catcher but it's not easy to find one that hits well and catches well - those guys start most games.

O'Hearn's surge could not have come at a better time as he's become an integral part of the lineup.  1B vs LHP can be sorted out in the aggregate, like what they're doing with the DH spot.

Versatile doesn’t really matter because we have 3 or 4 other guys that can play middle infield and even some corner outfield.  The one thing the team is missing is someone that can hit lefties well.  Henderson, Frazier, O’hearn don’t hit lefties well so you would want 1 or 2 of them sitting vs a lefty.  Urias doesn’t help them in those situations.  Mountcastle as bad as he was was still our best hitter by far vs lefties.  

[25 Nuggets]

1 hour ago, bpilktree said:

Versatile doesn’t really matter because we have 3 or 4 other guys that can play middle infield and even some corner outfield.  The one thing the team is missing is someone that can hit lefties well.  Henderson, Frazier, O’hearn don’t hit lefties well so you would want 1 or 2 of them sitting vs a lefty.  Urias doesn’t help them in those situations.  Mountcastle as bad as he was was still our best hitter by far vs lefties.  

The Orioles are OPSing .746 vs lefties and .744 vs righties.

[Natty]

 

Mounty .227/.264/.421/.686   

O' Hearn .308/.357/.538/.895

 

[clapdiddy]

1 minute ago, Natty said:

 

Mounty .227/.264/.421/.686   

O' Hearn .308/.357/.538/.895

 

If you could straight platoon these guys, you'd have extremely nice numbers.  

Mountcastle vs LHP:  .311/.342/.676

O'Hearn vs RHP: .320/.366/.557

[interloper]

46 minutes ago, clapdiddy said:

If you could straight platoon these guys, you'd have extremely nice numbers.  

Mountcastle vs LHP:  .311/.342/.676

O'Hearn vs RHP: .320/.366/.557

We can and we will. But who goes? Elias needs to swing a trade over the break.

Edited July 7, 2023 by interloper

[clapdiddy]

Just now, interloper said:

We can and we will. But who goes? Elias needs to swing a trade over the break.

Agreed.  If Mountcastle can pick up where he left off against LHP, 1B will be a huge asset if he and O'Hearn platoon.   Problem is that neither of these guys can really play another position.

[maybenxtyr]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

We can and we will. But who goes? Elias needs to swing a trade over the break.

Mateo. Can you think of any scenario right now with the amount of call-ups over the last year where you would be pleased with a starting lineup with Mateo in it? Of course I'm not accounting for any injuries. My answer is no.

[Filmstudy]

On 7/6/2023 at 11:47 AM, LA2 said:

Off the top of my head, in Orioles history, you have Lowenstein (32 yo), Dwyer (32), Mora (31).

John Lowenstein had been a 91 OPS player career prior to Balt and 112 the year before

Jim Dwyer was 91 career prior to 1982 and 112 the year before

Melvin mora was 79 before he got to the O's and 31 with a 91 OPS+ career when he had his breakout season

I know baseball does not have perfect control groups by any means, but none of these 3 were as bad as O'Hearn at the same point.

That said, I'll continue to enjoy the ride.  

[interloper]

9 minutes ago, maybenxtyr said:

Mateo. Can you think of any scenario right now with the amount of call-ups over the last year where you would be pleased with a starting lineup with Mateo in it? Of course I'm not accounting for any injuries. My answer is no.

No I cannot. 

However, I think there's a case to be made that Urias is the likelier trade candidate because Mateo makes more sense as a bench player than Urias. And maybe there is more demand for a catch-all utility IF than a pure defense-first SS. We'll see though!

[sportsfan8703]

30 minutes ago, interloper said:

No I cannot. 

However, I think there's a case to be made that Urias is the likelier trade candidate because Mateo makes more sense as a bench player than Urias. And maybe there is more demand for a catch-all utility IF than a pure defense-first SS. We'll see though!

Mateo has more value being Terrance Gore than Mountcastle this year. Those versus LHP splits from Mountcastle were from earlier success to start the year and are SSS. Mountcastle is a non factor with a .589 OPS in AAA.  

[interloper]

4 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Mateo has more value being Terrance Gore than Mountcastle this year. Those versus LHP splits from Mountcastle were from earlier success to start the year and are SSS. Mountcastle is a non factor with a .589 OPS in AAA.  

Speaking of SSS...