Jorge Lopez is Back

[ChosenOne21]

2 hours ago, Orioles Jim said:

Let me know what he says.

If Elias believed that clubhouse chemistry or whatever wasn't important, he wouldn't say so out loud. I would take his words on the topic with a grain of salt.

[Ven6]

33 minutes ago, Rbiggs2525 said:

Looked like he still had the movement but a little less Velo. They barreled up a ball or two for sure.

Thanks. I don’t know anything about the “mental health issue” he had when he went on the restricted list, but I bet, knowing what this game does to players and particularly relief pitchers, it will be a confidence game as much as anything. This first  outing hopefully boosts his. 

[Just Regular]

This next handful of innings will be an interesting control if BAL has some player deployment or training arrow in its quiver that's just plain better than MIN or MIA, neither of which are that shabby themselves.

The sinker wasn't 98 today, but he covered an inning.     Its just 13 months since Yennier Cano was worth a fraction of him - this month it's possible he could be worth a fraction of Cano.

I believe this action also is Elias volunteering a good half million of his financial resources to trial run a guy for 4 weeks.

[Jagwar]

1 hour ago, Ven6 said:

I missed his inning. How’d he look? Anything to glean from his performance—pitch shape, control, movement, etc?

Has to work on his location. 

[Malike]

1 hour ago, Ven6 said:

Thanks. I don’t know anything about the “mental health issue” he had when he went on the restricted list, but I bet, knowing what this game does to players and particularly relief pitchers, it will be a confidence game as much as anything. This first  outing hopefully boosts his. 

Jorge López embraces mental break (mlb.com)

For anyone wondering what the issue was related to.

[BRobinsonfan]

15 hours ago, Orioles Jim said:

I said very clearly (and repeatedly) that it’s NOT a primary factor but it IS A factor. Elias’ own words confirm that.

By Elias’ own words, it’s a factor that you “certainly got to keep in mind.”

Take it up with Elias.

I think you're reading too much into a throw-away line GMs and managers always use when discussing acquisitions. Elias made his career and reputation by using and exploiting advanced analytics. The team already has “great chemistry,” for whatever that's worth. They obviously see something in him they think they have a shot at fixing that will make him a viable reliever. 

[spiritof66]

45 minutes ago, BRobinsonfan said:

I think you're reading too much into a throw-away line GMs and managers always use when discussing acquisitions. Elias made his career and reputation by using and exploiting advanced analytics. The team already has “great chemistry,” for whatever that's worth. They obviously see something in him they think they have a shot at fixing that will make him a viable reliever. 

I think it's a very real issue for Elias and Hyde, though maybe not as big an issue as Elias is making it sound.

I think their point is that there is a very good, solid, and constructive clubhouse vibe, or whatever you want to call it, with no signnificant detractors from it, and they don't want to do anything to mess that up. That doesn't mean that Elias looked/looks at opportunities at the trade deadline or via waiver (and all of the opportunities Elias is interested in are not going to result in small improvements), he  is going to pick up a player because he's a "good clubhouse guy."

What I think it does mean is that deciding whether to pick up one of those marginal pieces, and demote or lose someone off the current roster, he's wary of picking up a guy who might mess up that vibe. Ordinarily, you have to make those decisons based on reputation and rumor, and I'm guessing Elias wants to be careful with that. Elias and Hyde have experience with Lopez, and that probably counted for a lot.

[Orioles Jim]

1 hour ago, spiritof66 said:

I think it's a very real issue for Elias and Hyde, though maybe not as big an issue as Elias is making it sound.

I think their point is that there is a very good, solid, and constructive clubhouse vibe, or whatever you want to call it, with no signnificant detractors from it, and they don't want to do anything to mess that up. That doesn't mean that Elias looked/looks at opportunities at the trade deadline or via waiver (and all of the opportunities Elias is interested in are not going to result in small improvements), he  is going to pick up a player because he's a "good clubhouse guy."

What I think it does mean is that deciding whether to pick up one of those marginal pieces, and demote or lose someone off the current roster, he's wary of picking up a guy who might mess up that vibe. Ordinarily, you have to make those decisons based on reputation and rumor, and I'm guessing Elias wants to be careful with that. Elias and Hyde have experience with Lopez, and that probably counted for a lot.

Yeah, this.

It’s clear that in signing a guy like Odor and letting him play all year when his on-field production could easily be replaced any number of ways that they saw some other value in him.

Right or wrong. 

[Orioles Jim]

2 hours ago, BRobinsonfan said:

I think you're reading too much into a throw-away line GMs and managers always use when discussing acquisitions. Elias made his career and reputation by using and exploiting advanced analytics. The team already has “great chemistry,” for whatever that's worth. They obviously see something in him they think they have a shot at fixing that will make him a viable reliever. 

I’m only reading what he says and taking him at his word. If you wanna bury your head in the sand and be a sort of reverse OldFan and think you’re somehow more attuned to what Elias is doing than his own public comments, that’s your prerogative.

Edited September 4, 2023 by Orioles Jim

[Hallas]

43 minutes ago, Orioles Jim said:

Yeah, this.

It’s clear that in signing a guy like Odor and letting him play all year when his on-field production could easily be replaced any number of ways that they saw some other value in him.

Right or wrong. 

 

In other industries there is a meaningful and quantifiable loss in productivity due to a-holes.  Whether this also applies to baseball is up for debate but the effect has been studied and is real.  If it's Odor versus an a-hole that puts up .900 OPS, the a-hole probably wins out even if he depresses other players' production a bit.  If it's Odor vs a player that's putting up .750, Odor is probably the correct choice.

Edited September 4, 2023 by Hallas

[Orioles Jim]

3 minutes ago, Hallas said:

 

In other industries there is a meaningful and quantifiable loss in productivity due to a-holes.  Whether this also applies to baseball is up for debate but the effect has been studied and is real.  If it's Odor versus an a-hole that puts up .900 OPS, the a-hole probably wins out even if he depresses other players' production a bit.  If it's Odor vs a player that's putting up .750, Odor is probably the correct choice.

Yeah, honestly at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Orioles brass has found some way to quantify the interpersonal effects.

[spiritof66]

39 minutes ago, Orioles Jim said:

I’m only reading what he says and taking him at his word. If you wanna bury your head in the sand and be a sort of reverse OldFan and think you’re somehow more attuned to what Elias is doing than his own public comments, that’s your prerogative.

Still haven't completely figured out the Odor thing. My guess is that Elias would say that with Odor and others he was trying to build that positive clubhouse spirit, and now that task is largely completed and he just doesn't want to mess it up. I have no idea what he's really thinking, but that would make sense to me. It also a reason why some of the guys who many are eager to trade to make way for prospects -- like Hays and Santander -- may be around for a while as the team's veterans after we wave good-bye to Frazier, Hicks and Gibson. 

[Gurgi]

I would be happier if we could stash him in AAA and fix him then bring him up.   Maybe they think they can fix him and next year we will be down Bautista.   I guess we really only have to sneak him to the end of the season and offer him a lower salary for next year and he likely takes it because he has limited options and he knows the Orioles and feels good about us.   It might be an amazingly good move next year.   

This year I dont think he is going to help much.  

Lopez is like a racehorse.   He is jumpy and touchy bolts at loud noises.   But get him a trainer he likes and a wonderful old stall mate to calm his nerves and he might win us some races.   

Edited September 4, 2023 by Gurgi

[Frobby]

I think we all know that Elias didn’t acquire Lopez to improve team chemistry.  We also can be pretty sure, based on his prior tenure here, that Lopez won’t hurt the team chemistry.   He was widely regarded as a good guy.  

We acquired Lopez because we think he’s underperformed this year and we are hoping to restore him to something resembling the pitcher he was when we traded him away last year, using the coaches and analytic techniques that helped him previously.  It’s about that simple.  

Watching him last night, his velocity seemed down a couple of ticks and his command kind of came and went.  Hopefully we can get him on track; and if not, hopefully we’ll use him in a way that doesn’t cost us any games.  

 

[Natty]

We acquired Lopez because that's what we do. We pick up  ballplayers that got cut. I bet we are not done with that strategy yet. It's cheap