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Opinions that didn't age well: 2023


Greg Pappas

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Even though the O'Hearn move worked out, Roch's "A left-handed bat for first base and the corner outfield. Check" tweet is still so ridiculous to me. 

The biggest thing I remember being way wrong about this year was that I thought Mateo's breakout was real. I remember writing that his April was so good, it seemed more likely to be a Mullins-type breakthrough than a random hot streak. It turns out a better recent Orioles comparison would be Tim Beckham's first month with the team. 

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I thought we’d see more prospects given more time.  Some of that was guys like Frazier but some of it was solid health on the roster.

Gunnar and Grayson’s early struggles may have slowed the team integration plan.  They eventually righted their ship big time.  We also saw Westburg get solid time in the second half.  Cowser, Stowers, Ortiz, and (to a lesser extent) HK barely saw any time.

I figured we would be a top 10 offense.  But thought middle of the pack pitching.

Have we/fans learned anything?

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8 minutes ago, Spy Fox said:

Even though the O'Hearn move worked out, Roch's "A left-handed bat for first base and the corner outfield. Check" tweet is still so ridiculous to me. 

The biggest thing I remember being way wrong about this year was that I thought Mateo's breakout was real. I remember writing that his April was so good, it seemed more likely to be a Mullins-type breakthrough than a random hot streak. It turns out a better recent Orioles comparison would be Tim Beckham's first month with the team. 

Same here on Mateo.

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8 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Out of 96 posters who responded to a May 1 poll, only one answered that Mateo would finish with an OPS under .700.   Congratulations, @Sports Guy.

 I’ve literally never seen a player go from that hot to that cold from one month to the next.  

I also said his defense wouldn’t be at the level he showed in 2022.

Im not really sure why so many on here get fooled so quickly by new shiny things.

The history of a players career matters. Hoping that every crappy toolsy player will buck history and because Jose Bautista is funny to me.

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14 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Out of 96 posters who responded to a May 1 poll, only one answered that Mateo would finish with an OPS under .700.   Congratulations, @Sports Guy.

 I’ve literally never seen a player go from that hot to that cold from one month to the next.  

I might be wrong, but wasn't his start to the year so hot that if he performed to career norms the rest of the way he'd have been over .700?

He would have had to have gone from hitting better than ever before to worse than ever before over the course of a single year. I don't blame people for not seeing that, but kudos to Sports Guy anyway.

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28 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Out of 96 posters who responded to a May 1 poll, only one answered that Mateo would finish with an OPS under .700.   Congratulations, @Sports Guy.

 I’ve literally never seen a player go from that hot to that cold from one month to the next.  

“For whatever it’s worth, ZiPS now projects Mateo’s final OPS at .768, which includes his 1.062 to date, and .711 for the rest of the season“

He had OPS’d ~.650 for his career up to 2023.  I don’t think anyone could have reasonably expected him to be historically bad AND continue to get ABs.  
 

If I remember correctly, I thought he’d fall off significantly but stop getting ABs before his OPS dropped below .700.  Pretty incredible how terrible he was after the hot start and that they kept giving him ABs. 

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8 minutes ago, ChosenOne21 said:

I might be wrong, but wasn't his start to the year so hot that if he performed to career norms the rest of the way he'd have been over .700?

He would have had to have gone from hitting better than ever before to worse than ever before over the course of a single year. I don't blame people for not seeing that, but kudos to Sports Guy anyway.

Thats correct. 

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