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Hicks activated, Cowser optioned


MurphDogg

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7 minutes ago, DEOriolesfan said:

We can't afford the luxury of "letting him overcome it" when we are in a pennant race. He was not hitting, plain and simple. 

It doesn't mean he won't still be a good player down the road. But right now he does not belong on a big league roster

Can we afford to keep putting Frazier in the field when he is the worst defender in baseball? What about using Fuji? Can we keep putting Hays out there with a 500 OPS since July 1?  
 

I’m just curious where the line is of horrendous play that it’s ok to play in a pennant race.

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4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Can we afford to keep putting Frazier in the field when he is the worst defender in baseball? What about using Fuji? Can we keep putting Hays out there with a 500 OPS since July 1?  
 

I’m just curious where the line is of horrendous play that it’s ok to play in a pennant race.

Hays is our best OF by DRS he's +7, he's not calling off the 3B and then letting a ball hit the ground by not catching it. He still brings a net positive. So if Cowser is not hitting or playing acceptable defense, then yes, they'd be an idiot to replace Hays with a much inferior defender, who also isn't hitting.

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5 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Can we afford to keep putting Frazier in the field when he is the worst defender in baseball? What about using Fuji? Can we keep putting Hays out there with a 500 OPS since July 1?  
 

I’m just curious where the line is of horrendous play that it’s ok to play in a pennant race.

Somewhere above -5.0 rWAR, -2.5 fWAR per 162 games?   That’s about the pace at which Cowser was playing.  

We all think Cowser is better than this and can be a big contributor in the majors eventually.  He wasn’t getting it done and getting a reset won’t kill him. (For all I know, we’ll find out that Hicks is going back on the IL today and Cowser is coming back.)

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14 minutes ago, Malike said:

Hays is our best OF by DRS he's +7, he's not calling off the 3B and then letting a ball hit the ground by not catching it. He still brings a net positive. So if Cowser is not hitting or playing acceptable defense, then yes, they'd be an idiot to replace Hays with a much inferior defender, who also isn't hitting.

Hays doesn’t have to be benched. Zero people have said this. 

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21 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

And again, if you want to send down Cowser, call up Kjerstad or Ortiz. Hicks isn’t worth the roster spot.

Hicks had two hits last night alone.  In their time here Cowser and Ortiz each only had 7 total hits.  Hyde was spot on.  Cowser needs to go to AAA and get back into a groove.  

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1 hour ago, CallMeBrooksie said:

The bolded is just a non-serious thing to say, and it's the foundation of everything that you're arguing here.

 

The only reason you could say it is because Hicks isn't a part of the future. Apparently, the FO thinks the future is this season, so yes, Hicks is likely worth the roster spot, unless you want to let the kids take their lumps and potentially punt on the rest of the season. I don't think the FO is willing to do this on 8/15.

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40 minutes ago, Malike said:

The only reason you could say it is because Hicks isn't a part of the future. Apparently, the FO thinks the future is this season, so yes, Hicks is likely worth the roster spot, unless you want to let the kids take their lumps and potentially punt on the rest of the season. I don't think the FO is willing to do this on 8/15.

So, playing the kids is punting the season but playing a vet who has been terrible for much of the last few years and plays shoddy defense is going for it?

That just makes absolutely no sense.

And the problem with all of this is that Hicks is going to play a lot, when he has no business doing so..but hey, he was good in 2017, so we are set.

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24 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

So, playing the kids is punting the season but playing a vet who has been terrible for much of the last few years and plays shoddy defense is going for it?

That just makes absolutely no sense.

And the problem with all of this is that Hicks is going to play a lot, when he has no business doing so..but hey, he was good in 2017, so we are set.

You keep understating how bad Cowser actually was. He was on pace for -5.0 rWAR over a full season. Hicks couldn't be that bad if he tried. Mullins, Santander and Hays are getting the most reps in the OF, if you get rid of Hicks, then McKenna comes up, because he's shown he can actually not look like a deer in the headlights at the ML level. You can go back and read my post history, I'd have been happy with them letting everyone learn on the job record be damned, but it's very clear they are trying to win now and it's also clear Cowser isn't going to help them do that. Westburg came up and took advantage his opportunity, Cowser had a golden opportunity and he choked. He'll get it right and he'll be in Baltimore in the near future.

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9 minutes ago, Malike said:

You keep understating how bad Cowser actually was. He was on pace for -5.0 rWAR over a full season. Hicks couldn't be that bad if he tried. Mullins, Santander and Hays are getting the most reps in the OF, if you get rid of Hicks, then McKenna comes up, because he's shown he can actually not look like a deer in the headlights at the ML level. You can go back and read my post history, I'd have been happy with them letting everyone learn on the job record be damned, but it's very clear they are trying to win now and it's also clear Cowser isn't going to help them do that. Westburg came up and took advantage his opportunity, Cowser had a golden opportunity and he choked. He'll get it right and he'll be in Baltimore in the near future.

I’m not understating anything.

At no point have I said he was doing a good job. At no point have I said he hasn’t been disappointing. At no point have I said I’m happy with what he has done.

In fact, whether it be this thread or others, I have talked about how disappointing his defense has been and how he’s not driving the ball.  That said, he has also hit into a lot of bad luck and his numbers should look more like what Hicks has looked liked the last month or so of his season.  They still wouldn’t be good but they would look better.

This is more about Hicks, who isn’t good, is old and is injury prone. Had I told you in May that you would all be pining for him you would have laughed but since the Os picked him up and he had 2 good weeks, you all have a hard on for him for some reason.

As I said, send down Cowser if you want..but bring up Ortiz or Kjerstad. Hicks doesn’t help us. We have guys that can do what he does and they can do it better.  We need to put ourselves in better position to win in October. Hicks does not do that.

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1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

I’m not understating anything.

At no point have I said he was doing a good job. At no point have I said he hasn’t been disappointing. At no point have I said I’m happy with what he has done.

In fact, whether it be this thread or others, I have talked about how disappointing his defense has been and how he’s not driving the ball.

This is more about Hicks, who isn’t good, is old and is injury prone. Had I told you in May that you would all be pining for him you would have laughed but since the Os picked him up and he had 2 good weeks, you all have a hard on for him for some reason.

As I said, send down Cowser if you want..but bring up Ortiz or Kjerstad. Hicks doesn’t help us. We have guys that can do what he does and they can do it better.

I'm not pining for Hicks. Honest question, who do you trust more for the last 2 months of the season to produce, Cowser or Hicks? Which of these players do you want up in a big at bat? As bad as Hicks has been this season he's been worth 1.1 oWAR since he's been an Oriole. His OPS+ is 96 vs Cowser at 27. You can't honestly say with a straight face that you trust Cowser more than you do Hicks in the last two months of the season. The only glimpse of anything that Cowser had shown in his opportunity at the big league level was to take walks, then they started throwing him strikes and he struck out in 1/3 of his AB's while not getting hits.

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4 minutes ago, Malike said:

I'm not pining for Hicks. Honest question, who do you trust more for the last 2 months of the season to produce, Cowser or Hicks? Which of these players do you want up in a big at bat? As bad as Hicks has been this season he's been worth 1.1 oWAR since he's been an Oriole. His OPS+ is 96 vs Cowser at 27. You can't honestly say with a straight face that you trust Cowser more than you do Hicks in the last two months of the season. The only glimpse of anything that Cowser had shown in his opportunity at the big league level was to take walks, then they started throwing him strikes and he struck out in 1/3 of his AB's while not getting hits.

I trust Cowser more come October and that’s what actually matters.

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