JD Martinez

[DirtyBird]

Maybe we have a problem with the organization's philosophy on approach at the plate, and it isn't just that we are missing an old guy

[Three Run Homer]

22 minutes ago, Allan Bryant said:

I don’t like giving up draft picks to sign FAs . I rather trade Mountcastle and give Mayo first job 

I'm willing to give up a draft pick to sign a super-dee-duper-star--Corbin Burnes, Juan Soto.  

Christian Walker and Pete Alonso aren't worth giving up a draft pick to sign.  

[interloper]

Just now, DirtyBird said:

Maybe we have a problem with the organization's philosophy on approach at the plate, and it isn't just that we are missing an old guy

We could use a new philosophy AND a new guy, IMO. 

[LookinUp]

7 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Also, this is directed at everyone… how much of our player’s cumulative stats from hitting were accrued before the @HOU series where we got figured out?

 

5 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

Maybe we have a problem with the organization's philosophy on approach at the plate, and it isn't just that we are missing an old guy

I'm not sure if we got figured out or not, but something broke on this team and needs to get fixed. That is job #1 and is what we'll need to do to make the entire lineup better.

Then there's the additional talent that we'll need. They're two different conversations, IMO. I've heard people basically saying our young talent isn't nearly as good as it's made out to be. I disagree. If one or two failed, I'd be wondering. But the entire lineup stunk for months. Some of it was injury, but there's a deeper issue that needs to be the focus of Elias' offseason.

[sportsfan8703]

29 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

Maybe we have a problem with the organization's philosophy on approach at the plate, and it isn't just that we are missing an old guy

It's not JD Martinez or bust, but I do think we need at least one vet in more than the RH CF Slater/Hays role.  Hicks was disliked in 2023, but at least he showed up in the postseason.  

The dream scenario of all the homegrown guys holding hands, singing kumbaya, and winning World Serieses, hasn't worked so far.  Vet experience, leadership, and clubhouse presence, isn't something that shows up on a stat sheet, so it gets "poo poo'd" here, but I think we can all admit that we need some of that in some degree because what we have hasn't worked.  Now, can all the young guys grow up, of course they can, but we do something about this offseason to supplement them and not rely on whatever market is there at the deadline.

The extra wild cards have changed things.  The "risk adverse" move is to actually fill your needs in the winter offseason, versus there being a buyers market in July.  

[Sports Guy]

36 minutes ago, interloper said:

We could use a new philosophy AND a new guy, IMO. 

Yea who wants a philosophy where you score a lot of runs. 

[DrinkinWithFermi]

JD Martinez would be such a 2009 Orioles signing.

[sportsfan8703]

5 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Yea who wants a philosophy where you score a lot of runs. 

Advanced scouting is tough.  Houston's scouts got us after that Yankees series where we scored 15 runs.  We rested on our laurels from OD-that HOU Series and never adjusted.  Literally, went down swinging... for the fences.  

IMO we need to find a way to get a vet in the lineup, and that might not be available at the deadline.  Can't take the deadline being a buyer's market anymore each year for granted.  

Ironically, we will get younger with Kjerstad taking over for Santa, and the eventual promotion of Basallo.  However, I do think O'Hearn/Mountcastle's spots are where we could add a vet and where there could be a FA one year fit.  

[DirtyBird]

11 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Yea who wants a philosophy where you score a lot of runs. 

Imagine how may more we would have scored if Cowser wasn't so darn unlucky.

[interloper]

17 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Yea who wants a philosophy where you score a lot of runs. 

We scored a lot of runs, but we should have scored a lot more than we did. Some of that is philosophy, some of that is personnel, some of that is luck. 

[DrinkinWithFermi]

55 minutes ago, Three Run Homer said:

I'm willing to give up a draft pick to sign a super-dee-duper-star--Corbin Burnes, Juan Soto.  

Christian Walker and Pete Alonso aren't worth giving up a draft pick to sign.  

I think Soto is the only FA hitter I would consider sacrificing a draft pick for this year, and there's no chance whatsoever of the Orioles signing him.

[e16bball]

13 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Also, this is directed at everyone… how much of our player’s cumulative stats from hitting were accrued before the @HOU series where we got figured out?

From opening day until 6/23, which was the end of that Astros series, the Orioles had a 119 wRC+ as a team.

Over the next 45 days, from 6/24 until 8/7, the Orioles had a 122 wRC+.

No matter how many times you ask this question, the answer isn’t going to change: the offensive collapse wasn’t the result of the Astros “figuring us out” in that series. The O’s continued to absolutely pound the ball for the next month and a half.

The major offensive collapse started in mid-late August. If you’re looking to pinpoint a specific date, it would be somewhere around 8/21. From that date until the end of the season, the team plummeted to a 96 wRC+.

 

Perhaps coincidentally, though perhaps not, that was right when Mountcastle got hurt. Pure speculation, but it feels like maybe that was the straw that broke the camel’s back — with Westburg having been lost a few weeks earlier and Adley having been in the pit of despair for a couple months at that point. Especially with O’Hearn pretty much immediately falling apart in the full-time 1B role. And when Urias went down a week later, it just felt like piling on at that point. A lineup version of what had happened to the pitching in June. 

[panick]

5 hours ago, DirtyBird said:

Imagine how may more we would have scored if Cowser wasn't so darn unlucky.

Do you mean when he was striking out so much?

[Chromehill]

16 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

It's not JD Martinez or bust, but I do think we need at least one vet in more than the RH CF Slater/Hays role.  Hicks was disliked in 2023, but at least he showed up in the postseason.  

The dream scenario of all the homegrown guys holding hands, singing kumbaya, and winning World Serieses, hasn't worked so far.  Vet experience, leadership, and clubhouse presence, isn't something that shows up on a stat sheet, so it gets "poo poo'd" here, but I think we can all admit that we need some of that in some degree because what we have hasn't worked.  Now, can all the young guys grow up, of course they can, but we do something about this offseason to supplement them and not rely on whatever market is there at the deadline.

The extra wild cards have changed things.  The "risk adverse" move is to actually fill your needs in the winter offseason, versus there being a buyers market in July.  

Something that doesn't show up on the stat sheet is something like being able to hit behind the runner to advance him.   The O's have been successful in building an analytics offense.   Focus on hitting homeruns, develop a swing to achieve optimum launch angle and exit velocity to hit the ball over the fence.  Result is they have a team of beer league software players and not baseball players and struggle to score when not hitting homeruns.  

Analytically, if you review their offensive rankings for the season, it says, nothing wrong with the offense, at least from a macro review, but we all know that this offense has issues.  

Runs - 4th

Home runs - 3rd

AVG - 7th

OBP - 11th

SLG - 3rd

OPS - 4th 

K's - 18th (this was interesting to see considering how much they seem to strikeout)

All of the above looks good, nothing to fix.

The O's had 6 sacrifice hits for the season, ranking 30th.  Interestingly, Arizona who led the league in runs scored also led the league in sacrifice hits with 34.  

The O's do not need to necessarily to focus on small ball, but they do need to be able to add that skillset to their offensive arsenal.  

[Can_of_corn]

I've never played in a beer league software league.  Is it drunk programming?  Sounds fun.

Don't a lot of beer leagues limit the amount of Homeruns you can hit?

With the way pitching and defense is currently don't all team struggle to score when they don't hit HR?  Seven players hit .300.  It's pretty hard to string together three hits in an inning with what pitching looks like these days.