Hicks and Mullins back this week…what happens with the roster?

[webbrick2010]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

Agreed.

Give me a starting IF of Mountcastle/OHearn, Westburg, Ortiz and Henderson.

OF of Mullins, Hays and Cowser.

DH is Santander.

C is Adley 

Bench is Frazier, Urias, Mounty/OHearn and McCann.

Kjerstad is your position extra player come Sept 1.

Wouldn't this be nice. Why do we think Hicks who has demonstrated that he is washed up should be on our playoff roster?

[Sports Guy]

28 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Urias is .710 for the year and .851 in August. Urias would need to struggle a lot more for me to pull the trigger on that move, and same with Mountcastle. If that happens, sure, bring up the kids.  

He has 21 at bats in August. He has largely been average at best with the bat this year. Taking his bat out of the lineup and making him more of a part time guy isn’t going to effect the team at all, especially since most of his value is defensively and we will replace him with an even better defensive option.

[Sports Guy]

10 minutes ago, webbrick2010 said:

Wouldn't this be nice. Why do we think Hicks who has demonstrated that he is washed up should be on our playoff roster?

My only guess is that they want his vet bat off the bench.

I would say the same thing about him that I would say about Frazier.  I don’t want either of them starting but i also wouldn’t mind either up pinch hitting late in the game in a crucial situation.

I feel they will give us a good professional at bat and work the count. Now, the question is, do you need both of them to do that and should you carry both of them to the detriment of having the better more talented roster?

IMO, the answer is no. 

[RVAOsFan]

This isn’t really the thread for the conversation but didn’t Westburg play some corner outfield in the minors? Was he any good? Would it make sense to get him some AB’s in the OF to get Urias more playing time? Also opens up an opportunity for Ortiz to come up. 

[Sports Guy]

I think we have to remember that every single roster decision the team is making now is based around the postseason roster. 
 

I completely disagree with the idea that you keep rostering guys like Hicks and Mateo at a detriment to a better team but it’s clear that the Os feel that these guys should be on the postseason roster because they value Mateo’s speed/defense and Hicks’ OBP/pro at bats/defense(I guess).

 

[maybenxtyr]

10 minutes ago, RVAOsFan said:

This isn’t really the thread for the conversation but didn’t Westburg play some corner outfield in the minors? Was he any good? Would it make sense to get him some AB’s in the OF to get Urias more playing time? Also opens up an opportunity for Ortiz to come up. 

His defense on the infield has been pretty good...I don't know if it's a good idea to mess with it.

[Frobby]

Well, defensively, Mullins is definitely ready to return.  Offensively, he’s not doing much at Bowie.  
 

 

[EdwinRip]

I don’t know how anyone can expect Cowser or McKenna to be in this team soon.  The writing is on the wall in every aspect.  Neither player is playing much or performing when they are playing.

[spleen1015]

Remember Adley's 150ish ABs in the majors?

Remember Gunnar the first month and a half of this season?

Where are they now?

Cowser needs ABs.

We know Mateo/Hicks/McKenna are scrubs.

We're making the playoffs with or without any of these guys, but none of them have better potential to contribute in the playoffs than Cowser.

[Frobby]

17 minutes ago, spleen1015 said:

Remember Adley's 150ish ABs in the majors?

Remember Gunnar the first month and a half of this season?

Where are they now?

A few things here.  

Cowser has a .420 OPS in 74 PA.   That’s not bad, that’s awful. 

Adley had a .526 OPS in his first 74 PA.  That’s also quite bad.  But Chirinos was just as bad offensively, and worse defensively, and Bemboom was even worse offensively.  So, they let Adley keep playing.  

Gunnar had a .668 OPS in his first 73 PA this year.  That’s subpar, but nowhere near the level of bad that Cowser has been.  And, Gunnar had shown in 2022 that he could hit major league pitching.  

So, while I’m not expecting Cowser to OPS .420 forever, I don’t think the comparison to Adley and Gunnar really helps him.  He’s hitting worse than either of them, and we have alternatives at his positions who have hit much better than he has. 

 

 

[rm5678]

2 hours ago, webbrick2010 said:

Wouldn't this be nice. Why do we think Hicks who has demonstrated that he is washed up should be on our playoff roster?

Hyde would say because he's a veteran with playoff experience.

[spleen1015]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

A few things here.  

Cowser has a .420 OPS in 74 PA.   That’s not bad, that’s awful. 

Adley had a .526 OPS in his first 74 PA.  That’s also quite bad.  But Chirinos was just as bad offensively, and worse defensively, and Bemboom was even worse offensively.  So, they let Adley keep playing.  

Gunnar had a .668 OPS in his first 73 PA this year.  That’s subpar, but nowhere near the level of bad that Cowser has been.  And, Gunnar had shown in 2022 that he could hit major league pitching.  

So, while I’m not expecting Cowser to OPS .420 forever, I don’t think the comparison to Adley and Gunnar really helps him.  He’s hitting worse than either of them, and we have alternatives at his positions who have hit much better than he has. 

 

 

The point isn't really about the numbers. It's about there being a period of adjustment that Cowser hasn't finished yet.

[EdwinRip]

Teams don’t let players adjust when they are playing as bad as Cowser in the thick of the playoffs in August when there are proven alternatives.  Cowser’s defense hasn’t been terribly impressive either.

[Sports Guy]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

A few things here.  

Cowser has a .420 OPS in 74 PA.   That’s not bad, that’s awful. 

Adley had a .526 OPS in his first 74 PA.  That’s also quite bad.  But Chirinos was just as bad offensively, and worse defensively, and Bemboom was even worse offensively.  So, they let Adley keep playing.  

Gunnar had a .668 OPS in his first 73 PA this year.  That’s subpar, but nowhere near the level of bad that Cowser has been.  And, Gunnar had shown in 2022 that he could hit major league pitching.  

So, while I’m not expecting Cowser to OPS .420 forever, I don’t think the comparison to Adley and Gunnar really helps him.  He’s hitting worse than either of them, and we have alternatives at his positions who have hit much better than he has. 

 

 

Cowser also has had some bad luck and his OPS should probably be an another 100-150 points higher and while that is still not good, it looks a lot better and maybe people wouldn’t be crying about it so much.

 

[Sports Guy]

2 hours ago, EdwinRip said:

Teams don’t let players adjust when they are playing as bad as Cowser in the thick of the playoffs in August when there are proven alternatives.  Cowser’s defense hasn’t been terribly impressive either.

The Os are routinely playing guys that are playing awful defense, can’t hit, make outs at a high level, etc…and yet they keep winning and keep playing them. 

Since Cowser got here, they have won at a high level.  He hasn’t stopped that from happening.

They can afford to do it, as they have proven all year with several different players.