What about Mayo?

[RVAOsFan]

I would love to know what kind of offers Elias has received for Urias.  It is so easy to say trade Urias so we can play these young guys but he is such a great option to have on your roster.  He can play multiple positions and play them really well, he seems to get timely hits and not bothered by inconsistent playing time.

I just think Elias views Urias as a lot more valuable than other teams value him in trade capital.

[wildcard]

Barring injury 8 of the 13 position players are a locks including: Gunnar, Mounty, O'Hearn, Adley, McCann, Hays, Mullins and Santander.  To me a lock is a player that could have a bad spring and still make the team.

The last 5 position players could be any of 8 players including:  Westburg, Holliday, Mayo, Cowser, Kjerstad, Urias, Mateo or Stowers.

Most likely McKenna, Maton, Nevin and Hilliard who are  on the 40 man roster and out of options will be DFA'd and put on waivers to try to get them to AAA  around opening day.

[Sports Guy]

45 minutes ago, RVAOsFan said:

I would love to know what kind of offers Elias has received for Urias.  It is so easy to say trade Urias so we can play these young guys but he is such a great option to have on your roster.  He can play multiple positions and play them really well, he seems to get timely hits and not bothered by inconsistent playing time.

I just think Elias views Urias as a lot more valuable than other teams value him in trade capital.

I think that’s true. Os fans treat him like he’s pretty worthless imo but he has value.

[waroriole]

37 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Barring injury 8 of the 13 position players are a locks including: Gunnar, Mounty, O'Hearn, Adley, McCann, Hays, Mullins and Santander.  To me a lock is a player that could have a bad spring and still make the team.

The last 5 position players could be any of 8 players including:  Westburg, Holliday, Mayo, Cowser, Kjerstad, Urias, Mateo or Stowers.

Most likely McKenna, Maton, Nevin and Hilliard who are  on the 40 man roster and out of options will be DFA'd and put on waivers to try to get them to AAA  around opening day.

Unless Westburg goes 0 for spring, he’s a lock. Urias and Mateo are locks too. 

[Sports Guy]

7 minutes ago, waroriole said:

Unless Westburg goes 0 for spring, he’s a lock. Urias and Mateo are locks too. 

Yep..unless traded but neither Urias or Mateo are getting cut.

[foxfield]

It's a good problem to have all of these defensive and offensive possible alignments.  Trying to fit these pieces into a 162 game lineup and have all of them ready to perform in October will be a season long ongoing function.  Mayo, like Holliday offers a tremendous upside.  There is more talent lower on the farm.

It really is a fun time.  The questions of whether Mayo or Holliday are ready and what they could be if they perform as expected are luxuries we could only dream of 5 years ago.  

And yes, we do not value guys like Mateo and Urias enough.  I'm not saying they could bring back tremendous value in a trade.  But when you have guys like that who are essentially placeholders who could perform nearly everyday if needed...there is no question that has value.

So far, we have gotten some nice work from pitchers too.  Still early however so like most, I am still worried about both starting and relief pitching for the long haul.

But I am optimistic in spite of the early injury info and looking forward to what this season holds.  I have a ticket package for the first time in almost 10 years.  Everyday is like Christmas....I come downstairs and peek in here to see what is going on today.

[Frobby]

11 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I think that’s true. Os fans treat him like he’s pretty worthless imo but he has value.

Per BB-ref, he’s been worth 7.4 rWAR in 321 games, compared to Anthony Santander’s 7.9 rWAR in 591 games.  Yet a lot of folks treat Santander as untouchable and Urias like he’s a replacement level player.  (fWAR has it 4.6 for Urias, 6.9 for Santander, which still leaves Urias ahead in WAR per game.)

Now, I do understand why most people consider Santander the more valuable of the two despite these numbers, but my point is, Urias is hardly a replacement level player.   He’s a very solid contributor.   The O’s should be able to get back decent value if he’s traded.  

[Sports Guy]

3 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Per BB-ref, he’s been worth 7.4 rWAR in 321 games, compared to Anthony Santander’s 7.9 rWAR in 591 games.  Yet a lot of folks treat Santander as untouchable and Urias like he’s a replacement level player.  (fWAR has it 4.6 for Urias, 6.9 for Santander, which still leaves Urias ahead in WAR per game.)

Now, I do understand why most people consider Santander the more valuable of the two despite these numbers, but my point is, Urias is hardly a replacement level player.   He’s a very solid contributor.   The O’s should be able to get back decent value if he’s traded.  

People have this belief that homers and power numbers are the only way you can help a team. It’s really annoying to me.

Excellent post.

[CaptainRedbeard]

After the Burnes trade, the Orioles can’t really go wrong with whatever they decide to do with the numerous position player options. Ortiz had a ton of AAA time, was worthy of a shot as a starter at the MLB level, and had no future as a starter in the organization (unless they were to trade Westburg instead). The only players in remotely similar positions now are Norby and Stowers, and they aren’t close to the level of prospect that Ortiz is.

The Orioles could send all the big “ready” prospects - Holliday, Mayo, Cowser, Kjerstad - back to AAA to start the year and have enough MLB depth that they could be ok, and those 4 have not spent so much time in AAA that they couldn’t benefit from more time there (not a full year, but perhaps a few months). Or they could call some combination of them up, or trade some of the veterans to make more space, or trade prospects themselves. Sending them down would be good for control, but if they’re calling them up they’re only doing it in scenarios where it helps the team win now (and take a shot at the ROY comp pick).

I have my own preferences and I think certain options are better than others, but there are positives and negatives to whatever path forward they end up with. And ultimately all of them are a “good problem” to have with this amount of young talent.

[DirtyBird]

1 hour ago, RZNJ said:

Obviously, an injury to a starting infielder, including Mountcastle.  Even an an injury to Hays or Santander could potentially open a spot for Mayo.  Otherwise, I have no idea who he might replace or how he fits in.  But if he looks like the best hitter on the team he’s not going down for long and maybe not at all.

Your theory is that Holliday has to have a really bad spring to not make the team, but Mayo has to look like the best hitter on the team to make it. I would be disappointed if management had that much bias going into spring and used that logic.

[RZNJ]

5 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

Your theory is that Holliday has to have a really bad spring to not make the team, but Mayo has to look like the best hitter on the team to make it. I would be disappointed if management had that much bias going into spring and used that logic.

Defense is part of the equation I didn't mention.  Mayo has a higher bar offensively because of the perception that Westburg, Henderson. Holliday is the better defensive alignment than any with Mayo at 3B.

[RVAOsFan]

Hopefully Norby is back to playing in games soon.  This is a big spring training for him, it sucks to see him start it with a nagging side injury, although it sounds like he is back to taking BP.

Even if there is no room in Baltimore for him, this spring training would be a great platform to show other teams what he can do against MLB level competition.

[emmett16]

2 hours ago, RVAOsFan said:

I would love to know what kind of offers Elias has received for Urias.  It is so easy to say trade Urias so we can play these young guys but he is such a great option to have on your roster.  He can play multiple positions and play them really well, he seems to get timely hits and not bothered by inconsistent playing time.

I just think Elias views Urias as a lot more valuable than other teams value him in trade capital.

He's a darn good player, for sure.  7.4 rWAR over 1050 ABs.  He brings a lot to the table.  Seems like an ideal candidate to get some decent low-level talent in return.  Still waiting for them to start making those types of moves.  It's started to get crowded in the Baltimore infield.  

[wildcard]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Yep..unless traded but neither Urias or Mateo are getting cut.

Can't say that I know how this turns out.   Its appear right now that Mayo 3B, Gunnar SS, Holliday2B is the future.   So what happens to Westburg, Urias, Mateo, Norby and Stowers is undecided IMO.

Elias traded Mancini for Johnson and McDermott.  Lopez for Cano and Povich.

We have not seen any trades to enhance the minors yet but there may be some comings.

[deward]

3 hours ago, wildcard said:

Barring injury 8 of the 13 position players are a locks including: Gunnar, Mounty, O'Hearn, Adley, McCann, Hays, Mullins and Santander.  To me a lock is a player that could have a bad spring and still make the team.

The last 5 position players could be any of 8 players including:  Westburg, Holliday, Mayo, Cowser, Kjerstad, Urias, Mateo or Stowers.

Most likely McKenna, Maton, Nevin and Hilliard who are  on the 40 man roster and out of options will be DFA'd and put on waivers to try to get them to AAA  around opening day.

O'Hearn is probably a lock, but he shouldn't be. I'm not counting on him to repeat last year.