Cubs series

[Fiver6565]

5 minutes ago, banks703 said:

Swept by the lowly Cubbies. Yeesh. 

Halfway through the series we’ve already lost three games?  That’s weird. 

[banks703]

1 hour ago, Fiver6565 said:

Halfway through the series we’ve already lost three games?  That’s weird. 

Bank on it.  The offense is putrid. I hope getting swept this weekend forces them to do something. 

[Billy F-Face3]

The offense looks bad right now. But part of that is management decisions and part of that is bad umpiring. 

Let's be real. McCann has even been a downgrade from Chirinos when you look at the batting numbers. And that's not a compliment to Chirinos.

[EddeeEddee]

The offense is going to struggle now and then against good pitching, especially with Mullins out.  Justin Steele is a Cy Young candidate and is easily better this year than any starter on the O's, and Kyle Hendricks could still be better than anyone not named Tyler Wells.  It's not really surprising the O's have dropped two to the Cubs against those two, especially if we're running Cole Irvin out there.

The O's bullpen is better than the Cubs' but not by as much as you'd think.

I do agree it's about time to promote Westburg and Cowser, but I don't blame Hyde and Elias for waiting this long, at least until Mullins got hurt.  The O's have been winning with the current roster, but with Mullins and Mountcastle out it's time for some promotions.  That said, are people  really sold Ortiz is ready for MLB pitching?  I understand he needs more at bats but we can't cry if he's not hitting much if we're crying for promotions all over the place too.

 

[banks703]

36 minutes ago, EddeeEddee said:

The offense is going to struggle now and then against good pitching, especially with Mullins out.  Justin Steele is a Cy Young candidate and is easily better this year than any starter on the O's, and Kyle Hendricks could still be better than anyone not named Tyler Wells.  It's not really surprising the O's have dropped two to the Cubs against those two, especially if we're running Cole Irvin out there.

The O's bullpen is better than the Cubs' but not by as much as you'd think.

I do agree it's about time to promote Westburg and Cowser, but I don't blame Hyde and Elias for waiting this long, at least until Mullins got hurt.  The O's have been winning with the current roster, but with Mullins and Mountcastle out it's time for some promotions.  That said, are people  really sold Ortiz is ready for MLB pitching?  I understand he needs more at bats but we can't cry if he's not hitting much if we're crying for promotions all over the place too.

 

I’m as a big a fan of Mateo as anyone but I would have pinch-hit for him and let Joey hit. 

[Yossarian]

Just when I start thinking this team is pretty good and might be able to win a playoff series, the effort against Cubs pitching brings me back to reality. 

[Aristotelian]

Weren't the Cubs a big trap series for us last year? Should have seen this coming.

[Billy F-Face3]

55 minutes ago, EddeeEddee said:

The offense is going to struggle now and then against good pitching, especially with Mullins out.  Justin Steele is a Cy Young candidate and is easily better this year than any starter on the O's, and Kyle Hendricks could still be better than anyone not named Tyler Wells.  It's not really surprising the O's have dropped two to the Cubs against those two, especially if we're running Cole Irvin out there.

The O's bullpen is better than the Cubs' but not by as much as you'd think.

I do agree it's about time to promote Westburg and Cowser, but I don't blame Hyde and Elias for waiting this long, at least until Mullins got hurt.  The O's have been winning with the current roster, but with Mullins and Mountcastle out it's time for some promotions.  That said, are people  really sold Ortiz is ready for MLB pitching?  I understand he needs more at bats but we can't cry if he's not hitting much if we're crying for promotions all over the place too.

 

 

People are expecting too much from rookies. Everyone seems to think minor league promotions will be some magic pill, but they fail to realize the bug difference between the minor leagues and the major leagues. Ortiz hit a home run in AAA the night  before his most recent recall. He was batting an amazing stat line in the minors. So was Kyle Stowers this season. Vavra is doing that now.  They all keep getting called up after their strong minor league play, only to struggle with putrid numbers in the Major League.

It would be wise for the team to cushion themselves to absorb the promotion of 1 player at a time they can play regularly and develop with Big League At Bats. Because so far, every promotion from the Orioles, including May of 2022 with Adley, has shown it takes a bit of unknown amount of time to adjust. Some players take longer than others. Very few are exceptions. Gunnar came up and was good in his 2022 cup of coffee but still had to adjust in 2023 in his 1st real full major league season. (He's still making adjustments and in the process of getting even better.) 

[Orioles0615]

13 minutes ago, Billy F-Face3 said:

 

People are expecting too much from rookies. Everyone seems to think minor league promotions will be some magic pill, but they fail to realize the bug difference between the minor leagues and the major leagues. Ortiz hit a home run in AAA the night  before his most recent recall. He was batting an amazing stat line in the minors. So was Kyle Stowers this season. Vavra is doing that now.  They all keep getting called up after their strong minor league play, only to struggle with putrid numbers in the Major League.

It would be wise for the team to cushion themselves to absorb the promotion of 1 player at a time they can play regularly and develop with Big League At Bats. Because so far, every promotion from the Orioles, including May of 2022 with Adley, has shown it takes a bit of unknown amount of time to adjust. Some players take longer than others. Very few are exceptions. Gunnar came up and was good in his 2022 cup of coffee but still had to adjust in 2023 in his 1st real full major league season. (He's still making adjustments and in the process of getting even better.) 

So we should never promote them and let them sit in Aaa? They have to come up sometime. What about Corbin Carrol not everyone struggles. And if they do who cares. They can easily be better than Frazier and other scrubs we run out there 

Edited June 17, 2023 by Orioles0615

[dtk9119]

14 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Weren't the Cubs a big trap series for us last year? Should have seen this coming.

We beat the Cubs fairly easily in 2 games last year (was there for one of them). That was mid July when the O's were playing very well.

This series reminds me a lot of the MIL series. Offense crap and can't hit vs an NL central team. I agree the starters the last 2 days are above average ML pitchers, but we for sure should have done more against the Cubs bullpen. It was 2nd to last in the NL and in the bottom 3rd of MLB. Yesterday's game was more about the Baumann/Perez meltdown. The game was 3-2 in the 6th. Today's game was all about the offensive ineptitude. Numerous chances w/ runners on base and come up empty vs mediocre bullpen.

I thought earlier this week we might have a chance to catch TB esp playing them head to head this coming week but I am about to drop those expectations and just hope we can hold on to the #1 WC. The FO MUST upgrade this roster though. I am not sure what they are waiting for w/ Cowser and Westburg. Ortiz is not MLB ready. I'm about done w/ Lester. And why is McKenna still taking up a roster spot on this team?

[EddeeEddee]

1 hour ago, Yossarian said:

Just when I start thinking this team is pretty good and might be able to win a playoff series, the effort against Cubs pitching brings me back to reality. 

ERA wise the Cubs have a Top 10 starting pitching staff.  Orioles starters aren't even in the Top 20.  The O's have the superior bullpen.  Team OPS wise the O's are marginally better than the Cubs.

[Tryptamine]

To be fair, the Orioles faced the 3 best Cub RP today. In his first outing of the year Merryweather went .2IP with 5 ER. Since then he has gone 

28.2 IP 42 K 1.88 ERA and 2.3 FIP.

He's the one the Orioles should be in on if the Cubs sell.

[Yossarian]

2 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

To be fair, the Orioles faced the 3 best Cub RP today. In his first outing of the year Merryweather went .2IP with 5 ER. Since then he has gone 

28.2 IP 42 K 1.88 ERA and 2.3 FIP.

He's the one the Orioles should be in on if the Cubs sell.

Why would the Cubs be selling?  They have one of the leagues best pitching staffs and play in the NL Central.  The playoffs are well within their reach and once they get in, they have pitching to carry them.  They will be buyers, not sellers. 

[Tryptamine]

9 minutes ago, Yossarian said:

Why would the Cubs be selling?  They have one of the leagues best pitching staffs and play in the NL Central.  The playoffs are well within their reach and once they get in, they have pitching to carry them.  They will be buyers, not sellers. 

Yes, my Cubs have been completely bailed out by a terrible division,  but the offense has so many black holes that they'll go on another long stretch where they only put up 2 to 3 runs a game.

[EddeeEddee]

45 minutes ago, Orioles0615 said:

So we should never promote them and let them sit in Aaa? They have to come up sometime. What about Corbin Carrol not everyone struggles. And if they do who cares. They can easily be better than Frazier and other scrubs we run out there 

Right now Corbin Carroll is just better than everyone not named Ohtani or Judge.  Those numbers probably won't hold up but currently he's a lefty Mike Trout.

Gotta hope Westburg gets promoted pretty soon.  Reading up it looks like many think Cowser needs more time, partly to recover more from recent injury but also because of noted struggles with offspeed stuff and against LH pitching in general.  Feels like he may not get the call for awhile.  I would think he'll eventually take Aaron Hicks' spot on the team but later rather than sooner.

I don't understand why everyone is so down on the O's lineup when good pitching (Steele and Hendricks) commonly beats good hitting.  Couple that with O's pitching being atrocious on Friday.  The Cubs are erratic and flawed but on a good day they look like they can dominate.  I'm more worried about the O's bullpen and the ability of this team to get another quality starter than I am about the lineup.