3rd Base. Is there a competition?

[Aglets]

Isn't Gunnar the opening day SS?

[Billy F-Face3]

3 hours ago, Aglets said:

Isn't Gunnar the opening day SS?

Yes, but he also plays at 3rd base when needed with Mateo taking over SS duties.

[Three Run Homer]

4 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

Would you rather have Urias 3B/Mayo 1B or Mayo 3B/Mountcastle 1B?

What if it's Westburg/Mayo vs Mayo/Mountcastle?

If Mayo can play a good enough 3B, I'd rather have him play there.  Mountcastle's bat is better than Urias.  

Mountcastle is probably a better hitter than Westburg now, although that may not be true in a year or two once Westburg has started tapping into his power. 

But even if our four best infielders right now are Mayo, Westburg, Henderson and Holliday, there has to be a better use of talent (e.g. a trade) than to put one of them at 1B if all of them are capable of playing a more valuable position.  

[spleen1015]

4 hours ago, Billy F-Face3 said:

Just speaking for opening day depth and opening day 2024 only, the 3B depth chart probably looks something like this...

1. Urias

2. Henderson

3. Westburg

4. Mayo

5. Nevin

Westburg started every game in the playoffs. In Game 3, he started at 3B over Urias.

He's ahead of Urias.

[baltfan]

6 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Just because the Os have a need to make trades doesn’t mean teams don’t want the players and won’t come to some agreement on a price that makes sense for the Os to make a move.

Unless they are hoping guys just get released. 

[Sports Guy]

24 minutes ago, baltfan said:

Unless they are hoping guys just get released. 

No one is getting released. Elias will be ok with getting the service time before he would release valuable players.

[Birdland in NC]

I don’t think Westburg or Santander or Kiersted are going to be playing any 1B,  because Basallo is the future over there.  Heck, Adley too maybe.  

[baltfan]

27 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

No one is getting released. Elias will be ok with getting the service time before he would release valuable players.

You don’t think Urias might get released?  

[Sports Guy]

4 minutes ago, baltfan said:

You don’t think Urias might get released?  

Zippy chance.  That would be a terrible move.

Edited March 8 by Sports Guy

[Just Regular]

Matt Chapman on Giants kind of maroons J.D. Davis, a player any team with some Ramon Urias interest might also be interested in.

J.D. Davis got 750K of Astros bonus money the Brady Aiken year, so I half expect Elias to be inquiring.    If Westburg-Gunnar-Holliday defend well enough, Davis probably has an edge on Urias as a Roenicke-type threat off the bench.    Urias' better glove and 2B capability maybe more helpful for Farhan than here.

[ThisIsBirdland]

15 hours ago, Three Run Homer said:

If Mayo can play a good enough 3B, I'd rather have him play there.  Mountcastle's bat is better than Urias.  

Mountcastle is probably a better hitter than Westburg now, although that may not be true in a year or two once Westburg has started tapping into his power. 

But even if our four best infielders right now are Mayo, Westburg, Henderson and Holliday, there has to be a better use of talent (e.g. a trade) than to put one of them at 1B if all of them are capable of playing a more valuable position.  

There's 486 starts between 2B/3B/SS over a season. Divide that amongst 4 players and that's 121 starts/player. Gunner of course needs to be seeing 150+ starts per year. But you can find 150 starts for all 4 of these guys down the road between the DH and occasional COF/1B rotational starts, especially after Santander and O'Hearn leave presumably after this season.

I've always assumed that Westburg/Mayo could coexist on the same team and get appropriate playing time and I don't get the sense that the O's want to move Westburg unless as part of a trade that makes too much sense to pass up on (Luzardo).

[Sports Guy]

On 3/7/2024 at 8:22 AM, Sports Guy said:

Mayo just isn’t going to be an everyday third baseman for the Os this year. I get that they want him to play third but it’s just not going to happen because they aren’t going to bench Westburg.

Mayo needs to be playing RF and 1st. 

The Os just really need to make a few trades.  This was obvious in the offseason and it’s more obvious now.

 

Wanted to get back to this thought.

Long term, maybe Mayo is the third baseman but I just doubt that will be the end outcome. I think Westburg will show well enough that you don’t move him to a bench/UTI role. I think a real discussion on Holliday at SS will eventually be there, as well as the simultaneous discussion about SS vs 3rd for Gunnar.

Mayo can handle the position imo but, as someone else said, his bat is what gets him here and while his bat is more valuable at third, there are several other factors to consider.

The Os are absolutely not going to move away from Westburg this year, especially early on. It’s just a crazy thought to say, start Mayo and Holliday and put Westburg on the bench. Even if you like those 2 more than Westburg, which I do, that doesn’t mean Westburg is bad or that you play him 3-4 times a week.

Mayo should be getting OF time, first, third and DH. Him coming up here and having 400 or so at bats is fine. That’s not some slap in the face and if he is playing great and others are hurt or struggling, his time goes up from there.

But the goal should be that he can play in different spots for 2024 because otherwise, it’s going to take horrific play from someone or injuries and he shouldn’t need that to happen to be on this team. He’s too good.

The question is, how do you make this all work?

For discussion sake, let’s say Holliday makes the team out of ST. 
 

That means you have Holliday, Gunnar, Westburg, Mounty, Adley, OHearn, Hays, Mullins and Santander as your 9 guys playing often.  McCann is your back up C and you have Urias and Mateo, with Urias being more important.  That only leaves one spot.

So you have McKenna, Cowser, Mayo, Kjerstad, Stowers, Norby, et al for one spot. (This also assumes they take 13 pitches north or even if they don’t that they have 13 pitchers quickly into the season)

In that scenario, Mayo can make the team but obviously none of the OFers do And you probably need Cowser or McKenna on the team to be a back up CF unless you feel good enough about Mateo or Hays but then you need an OFer for LF, so the same thing applies.

So what do they do?

The reality is that at least 2 of Cowser, Kjerstad and Stowers should be here. Norby going down isn’t a big issue because he can learn to play the OF more.

If you wanted the team to have 2 of the 3 OFers and Mayo on it, that means you have to trade or release players. Releasing anyone makes little sense outside of Mateo. If he’s not going to play SS, I’m not sure why he’s here. I would think you could trade him for something though, so you don’t have to release him.

I think Urias makes sense to keep but if Mayo makes the team, you can get by without Urias.

BTw, I’m also assuming no Wong if Holliday makes the team.

Whether or not Wong excepts a AAA assignment is to be seen but someone(s) who was signed as a vet uti guy will go to Norfolk and that will provide us when some depth there.

Mountcastle, OHearn, Hays and Santander all kind of do about the same thing and they do what our younger guys do as well, so one or 2 of them going also makes sense.

So, can the Os get rid of 1 or 2 of Urias and Mateo and one or 2 of the 4 OFer/DH/1st base type guys between now and OD?

And, to follow up on that..do they want to do that?  Or do they want the depth and just send the kids down?  Do they not want to start all of there clocks right now?

It’s a dilemma I and many others talked about all offseason. When do you get these kids in there? At some point, you have to play them. They are just too good and too talented and have too much upside not to and while the vet players are valuable and good players and there is no guarantee that the young kids will be better, you have to find out because they are definitely more talented and have a higher upside than what is here now.

You have a need for pitching, both in the rotation and in the pen. Use some of these guys to fill that need.

[RZNJ]

So it’s crazy to have Westburg, who can play all three infield positions and has more speed for the outfield, as the backup player, but  it makes sense to have the better player (your words) but more defensively limited player moving around to get 400 ABs.  Phew!

It’s a moot point because Mayo starts in Norfolk while Westburg gets to show if he’s a ML power bat or not at 3B.

We have 2 1B.  Mayo doesn’t fit on the bench.  Cowser or Kjerstad up for one outfield spot.  +McCann, Urias, Mateo = 13.

[Ripken]

22 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

No one is getting released. Elias will be ok with getting the service time before he would release valuable players.

Nope.  We're gonna keep sending MLB worthy players back to Norfolk. 

[OriolesMagic83]

It makes no sense to have multiple utility guys like Mateo and Urias when just about all the O's position players can play multiple positions.  I feel like either Mateo or Urias needs to go.  Would hate to see Cowser or Kjerstad blocked by Mateo or Urias.  Would much rather have Cowser or Kjerstad coming off the bench as a pinch hitter too.