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As of now, which non-pitcher position are you the most concerned about?


Greg Pappas

As of now, which non-pitcher position are you the most concerned about?  

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  1. 1. As of now, which non-pitcher position are you the most concerned about?



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2 hours ago, ChosenOne21 said:

It's hard for me to get worked up about 1B, because we could probably plug that hole with Coby Mayo if we had to. Heck, we've got multiple decent options for every position on the dirt.

I voted CF, because Mullins isn't getting younger or better and we have no one great ready to take over. I don't believe Cowser is a CF.

Issues with Hays aside, I'm pretty sure we could cover him with Cowser, Kjerstad, Stowers, etc. if we had to. Same for Santander.

I can get behind voting CF because of lack of depth, but Mullins was relatively healthy the two prior seasons so I'm hoping that 2023 was just a a slight hiccup in the health department. I also think signing someone like Adam Duvall to a one year deal could easily put a band-aid on the CF depth issue, at least in the short term. 

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I went with CF. Ced is very good, when healthy. A lot of leg issues for a guy whose game is his legs. If you want Ced to be productive in September and October, you need to get him off his feet more during the season. 

We need to solidify the position. Perhaps Hilliard was to that end, or he might be getting Hays a break more than Ced. Cowser has a lot to prove, and doesn’t look, to me, like he belongs in CF. McKenna is out of options, and who knows if they plan on doing another move to replace Hicks’ production. I don’t think Hicks would be a guy I would want in 2024.

 

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1 hour ago, HakunaSakata said:

Their career batting averages are almost identical and Mullin's career OBP is higher. They're literally the same offensive player except Mullins steals bases and has actually had at least one breakout season. If you want to argue the CF depth issue (compared to LF) that's fine, but Hays isn't a better offensive player than Mullins. 

He was better last year, healthy, and trending positive/steady while Mullins has put up .720 two years in a row and had multiple injuries. Sorry, I am allowed to be more worried about Mullins, and I am.

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My only concern (not great) will be if we get hit heavy with injuries and the "next up" is a big drop-off. I understand that Hays, Ced, etc. are a year older but Adley, Gunnar, et al. are a year more experienced.

I have many more "hopes" than "concerns".

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The only holes that this team had at the end of the season was SP to replace Gibson, closer to replace Bautista, and the RH SU/MR that we hoped Fuji would be. Webb sorta filled that role. So did Wells. 

On offense, it’s just depth. CF and Catcher. Are we bringing back Hicks?  Mateo is still here and can play some CF. Mckenna vs Hilliard in ST. Gotta favor Hilliard simply because the FA status of our OF in the future and his bat has everyday potential. Would McKenna clear waivers at the end of ST?

McCann is in a contract year if that matters. Perez seems like the vet catcher stash for AAA along with Handley. Basallo might be closer than we think. Especially with less emphasis on the catcher’s game calling since the pitchers call their pitches. SB are way down too, but Basallo has a cannon.

 

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4 hours ago, emmett16 said:

RF is only position on team with a negative WAA.  When measuring how the team performs, that seems like the most applicable stat. 

Santander only had 411 of the PA going into that, and others had 273 so that readout was almost exactly 40% others, including dribs and drabs of the Fraziers and Vavras of the world.     I know we both hope the story of 2024 is zero Orioles plate appearances going to bats that weak.

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I think for me its 3B, given the possibility Mayo perhaps can't cover it.    

I have Gunnar-Holliday hopefully starting on what I hope will be as long and productive a partnership as Trammell and Whitaker.

Then its just Ramon Urias, Jordan Westburg and Joey Ortiz for that role, and it'll be okay but I don't see even the "Austin Hays might be an All-Star in a good year" upside all of the rest of the positions have at least.

Somebody out of Mountcastle, O'Hearn, Kjerstad, Mayo or Basallo will be a nice 1B option by fall, especially if Mayo is limited to that bucket.

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  • Posts

    • It's fine, but I would personally prefer having Cowser and Adley taking tons of pitches back-to-back before Gunnar further punishes the opposing starting pitcher with high exit velo barrels. 
    • I was going to say pretty much the same thing about Cowser in my post, but left out my thoughts to keep the post more Gunnar-centric. But I totally agree that Cowser fits the best as this team's leadoff hitter, especially since Holliday doesn't look like he's going to make an impact offensively as early as most of us thought heading into the season.  Going back to last season, I've said Cowser has the best mix of patience, hit tool, power, and speed to be a great leadoff hitter. The strikeouts are most likely always going to be high with him, but he has .380-.400+ OBP makeup, and having someone like that hitting leadoff with Adley and Gunnar hitting directly behind Cowser is going to set things up for an elite offense which is much more dynamic and less one-dimensional than the what we've seen up until this point. Cowser Adley Gunnar Westburg O'Hearn Santander Mountcastle Is an ideal top 7 against RHP for right now, with Kjerstad (replacing Hays) and Mayo (essentially replacing Mateo and bumping Westburg to 2B) making the lineup legitimately scary within the next couple months. Mullins and Hays need to be phased out, with Santander and Mountcastle not far behind if those two continue struggling and not reaching base enough to justify hitting in the middle of the order.
    • A lot of teams (likely driven by analytics) are putting their best overall hitter at 2 (like the Yankees batting Soto 2, and the Dodgers batting Shohei 2) to maximize ABs while guaranteeing that a high-OBP guy is batting in front of him to give him opportunities with men on base.  That's probably what we want.  It seems logical considering how thoroughly debunked small-ball in the first inning has been.  Rutschman at 3 is fine.
    • Realistically I think Adley as the leadoff guy is the best lineup for us but if he has trouble batting leadoff in half the games because he can't get his catcher's gear off fast enough then I get it.   Cowser has continued to be incredibly patient, and if Adley can't be our leadoff guy then Cowser is probably our next best option.  Of course Cowser also hits a lot of bombs, so it'd be interesting if he goes on another heater.   If Cowser gets off the schneid then Cowser leadoff and Gunnar at 2 could be incredibly potent.  I don't think Cowser is actually playing that badly, he's just been running into some bad luck.  And he's starting to wake up a little bit anyway.
    • Agreed, appreciate the stats. Gunnar isn't a leadoff hitter - he's a prototypical #3 hitter or cleanup hitter. Hyde writes poor lineups, and Gunnar hitting leadoff has been one of the consistent problems with the offense this season. Gunnar hitting mostly solo shots is both a consequence and reflection of this offense's flaws - the O's have too many low-OBP hitters in the lineup (hitting in less-than-optimal spots for the most part) and are too reliant on solo homers to generate runs. At least Hyde has started hitting Westburg leadoff against LHP, which is progress, but Hyde is way too stubborn and too slow to make the correct adjustments. He's very similar to Buck Showalter in that respect.  Anyway, I look forward to Hyde waking up and moving Gunnar down to #3/#4 against RHP.  
    • While the return on the Tettleton trade wasn't ideal, 1: I don't think you can really expect a 30 year old catcher to put up a career year and then follow it up with another one, and 2: we had Chris Hoiles who played quite well for us following Tettleton's departure.  If we had forward thinking GMs we probably would split them at C and give them DH/1B/OF games on their non catching days, which is what Detroit did with Tettleton to prolong his career after 1992.  (He was basically the same hitter from 1993-1995 but he stopped catching with regularity so his WAR was much lower.)   The Davis trade was so completely undefensible on every level, not the least of which because we already had a player who was at least as good as Davis was on the team, but he didn't fit the stereotypical batting profile of a 1B.  At least today teams wouldn't be so quick to dismiss a 10 HR first baseman if he's got an OBP of .400.
    • The Glenn Davis trade was so bad it overshadowed another really bad trade in team history. The Orioles traded Mickey Tettleton that same offseason for Jeff Robinson in part because Tettleton had an off year in 1990 with a .223 batting average and a .381 slugging percentage. Except Tettleton drew 116 walks making his OBP .376 and his OPS+ was 116. Jeff Robinson was coming off a 5.96 ERA in 145 innings pitched. I have no idea what the team was thinking with this trade. Robinson did manage to lower his ERA in 1991 to 5.18 his only Orioles season. There's no way this trade is made today in the age of analytics. Tettleton meanwhile put up 171 home runs and an .859 OPS for the remainder of his career. 😬 Just a bad trade that doesn't get talked about enough thanks to Glenn Davis.
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