Why isn't Ortiz in Baltimore instead of Mateo?

[Going Underground]

51 minutes ago, Gurgi said:

Only thing I can think of why we keep Mateo around is what someone else said.  The Orioles are looking ahead to the playoffs and using his speed to try to win a close game.  It is the only thing that makes any sense at this point.

Terrance Gore is an interesting case. Guy has 3 World Series rings but was only active in one of them. Was  active in a few playoff series but was the speed guy.

Gore has already played in eight different postseason series and 10 postseason games, which is a remarkable number for a player who has just 77 regular season plate appearances. More impressively, Gore has three World Series rings to go with his 15 MLB hits.

[MouncastleandMcCormick]

Given what we have seen from Mateo, in terms of both his failures across all aspects of his performance and what we can see of his reaction to those failures, I'm not sure why anyone would trust him late and close on the basepaths.

[24fps]

12 hours ago, RarityFlaherty said:

I’m pretty sure they view Urias and Westburg as 2B/3B guys and not anyone they want playing SS. If Ortiz gets hurt, they are forced to play one of those two at short to give Gunnar days off. We only have a month until rosters expand and they could just bring up Ortiz then anyway. 

So Mateo is best viewed as an insurance policy in case a better player gets injured and Elias and Hyde could be forced to change their "view"?  Dumb insurance, if for no other reason than with 13 pitchers, there's no room for a one-dimensional spare part.  Offhand, I can't think of a team better equipped to deal with a middle infielder going down than the O's, and that's without Mateo taking up space.

[RarityFlaherty]

1 minute ago, 24fps said:

So Mateo is best viewed as an insurance policy in case a better player gets injured and Elias and Hyde could be forced to change their "view"?  Dumb insurance, if for no other reason than with 13 pitchers, there's no room for a one-dimensional spare part.  Offhand, I can't think of a team better equipped to deal with a middle infielder going down than the O's, and that's without Mateo taking up space.

It’s not insurance, it’s depth. We need to have at least 3 guys available to cover SS. We are good at 2B and 3B, but it feels like we are a little light at SS. Out of the guys on the 40 man, I’m thinking they only want to Henderson, Ortiz, and Mateo to play SS. And out of guys who aren’t on the 40 man, the only guy I’d have any confidence in being an upgrade from Mateo is Holliday. 

[Frobby]

Ortiz definitely hasn’t shown yet that he can hit major league pitching (.448 OPS in 34 PA, 26.5% K rate), but I’d be willing to bet a significant sum that he’d outperform what Mateo has done since May 1 (.411 OPS, 28.6% K rate in 199 PA).  And now Mateo has shown that he isn’t consistent with the glove when he’s not playing full time.  I’m sick of watching Mateo’s at bats.   His approach is terrible.  

[Greg Pappas]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

What roster move needs to happen after Ortiz?  The outcry after every loss isn’t going to stop. It’s never “we just had a bad game”, it’s always some injustice. Before it was Westburg and Cowser. The only other spot it can go is to Maverick Handley for McCann. Or Vespi for Perez. 

You didn't address my post, you're just complaining about other posters complaints about roster transactions and losses..  I'm not sure why this was addressed to me. I only was discussing Ortiz/Mateo.

@Gurgi you may be correct as to why Mateo remains here... and I've actually made that argument earlier this season.   What I find odd is Elias saying how we have a Major League starting SS at AAA in Ortiz, yet Elias has yet to recall him.  I hope we get some resolution with Ortiz soon, as I'm sure many are tired of the topic. 

Edited August 3, 2023 by Greg Pappas

[accinfo]

Lets see what they decide to do when they get back to Baltimore tomorrow.  I can understand they didn’t want to fly Ortiz to Toronto, go through customs, etc for today.  Mateo was going to get the start against a lefthander yesterday.  If they are going to make that move it will be when they get home. 

[NashLumber]

I haven't read every post in this thread, but the urgency of simply doing something about Mateo seems a good bit more than the Odor situation last year. There's a guy chomping at the bit in Norfolk and has actually played some games already with the O's, ie. 15 games and 34 plate appearances. Even if there's a further adjustment period for adapting to MLB pitching, his defense, by all accounts, is the best in the system. Are we back to the idea that Hyde or Elias are timid about upsetting a 3 year veteran with a career slash of 

.222

.268

.364

.632

 

Edited August 3, 2023 by NashLumber

[accinfo]

As a matter of fact The Orioles face a left hander Friday and Sunday against the Mets.  Either Mateo is going to get those starts or they bring up Ortiz and he gets those.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, accinfo said:

As a matter of fact The Orioles face a left hander Friday and Sunday against the Mets.  Either Mateo is going to get those starts or they bring up Ortiz and he gets those.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  

Well, I know what I'm betting on.

I really like Elias a lot.  I think he's fantastic.  But holding onto Mateo when it's plainly obvious that he needs to go is one of the biggest head scratchers throughout his tenure here.  I'm fairly confident that Ortiz would have fielded that ball cleanly last night.  

[slakattack]

15 hours ago, Gurgi said:

You would think that the sheer amount of bad play from Mateo will catch up with him and cause him to be cut.  I think Elias was so happy to have found Mateo for free and the idea of turning him into a major weapon was attractive.  The whole story was fun.  A thrown away player playing GG defense and steaing bases.  

It worked for a while but in the end proved to be a dream.  Mateo is not a starter.  In fact he isnt very good at baseball.  He has to be cut.

Being good at baseball should be a priority for this team, just sayin'.

[CHIP]

5 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

What roster move needs to happen after Ortiz?  The outcry after every loss isn’t going to stop. It’s never “we just had a bad game”, it’s always some injustice. Before it was Westburg and Cowser. The only other spot it can go is to Maverick Handley for McCann. Or Vespi for Perez. 

I'm all aboard that Handley train getting a chance.  I understand the need to keep Handley in AAA because no one is going to take Bemboom when he is bounced down every time.  But as we approach the end of season when the rosters can be expanded... If the O's want that 3rd catching option do they want the defense of Handley and his speed?  Handley could pinch run better than Bemboom.  From a defensive perspective, he has the elite framing and blocking skills Adley had last year and his  POP times are elite.  The Durham Bulls announcer was saying is numbers were in the 1.85 range.  I haven't seen data as AAA doesn't post the POP times, etc.  I just don't think there would be much drop off from McCann to Handley and if Handley can't hang, he is dropped from the 40 man before the Rule 5 and if he can hang then he stays on the 40 man.  Then worry about the $4 million the O's owe for McCann's 2024 salary.

I checked Handley's numbers since he returned from the IL.    26 games since he got back to Norfolk on June 13th.  Nearly two full months.  Over those 26 games, .282/.411/.410  which is good for a two month stretch.  If we want to give him 10 days to get his timing back, the last 20 games he is at .304/.451/464 with 13BB/14K.   

If I wanted to be a smartass and justify his promotion based on a single month, during the month of August, he has a 1.167 OPS with 2 stolen bases and only 1 K.  THAT DESERVES A PROMOTION

It's not like the O's are asking him to see if he can play 1B or a corner outfield spot.

 

[bluedog]

5 hours ago, Greg Pappas said:

You didn't address my post, you're just complaining about other posters complaints about roster transactions and losses..  I'm not sure why this was addressed to me. I only was discussing Ortiz/Mateo.

@Gurgi you may be correct as to why Mateo remains here... and I've actually made that argument earlier this season.   What I find odd is Elias saying how we have a Major League starting SS at AAA in Ortiz, yet Elias has yet to recall him.  I hope we get some resolution with Ortiz soon, as I'm sure many are tired of the topic. 

I wouldn't be shocked if Ortiz joins the team back in Baltimore and Mateo gets waived or McKenna gets demoted.

[zweem]

"I wasn't watching the end, but a buddy of mine said Mateo and Hyde kinda blew each other off at the end of the handshake line today."

Statement on the UMD site---- anything to it???-- Did anyone herenotice???

[sportsfan8703]

6 hours ago, accinfo said:

As a matter of fact The Orioles face a left hander Friday and Sunday against the Mets.  Either Mateo is going to get those starts or they bring up Ortiz and he gets those.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  

Vs LHP

Gunnar SS

Urias 3B

Westburg 2B

We’re passed the point where Gunnar comes out of the lineup. Why call Ortiz up to be a part time player?