Orioles Sign INF/OF Tony Kemp

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

25 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

This could mean Cowser to AAA. Holliday down till mid June. 

Will Elias DFA Mckenna?  If not, Cowser to AAA. 

Kemp essentially replaces Cowser and Holliday. Not a fun move. 

DFA-ing McKenna for Kemp makes zero sense. I’ll take McKenna any day over Kemp. I’m hoping Kemp is going to be minor league depth. 

Maybe an infielder is getting released or traded. 

 

Edited March 26 by OsFanSinceThe80s

[dtk9119]

5 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

DFA-ing McKenna for Kemp makes zero sense. I’ll take McKenna any day over Kemp. I’m hoping Kemp is going to be minor league depth. 

Maybe an infielder is getting released or traded. 

 

Agreed. McKenna has his faults but he's a known quantity.

[sportsfan8703]

I really like what Elias has done with the bench. 

- Position flexibility

- Can match up L/R anywhere

- Speed off the bench

- Defense off the bench

- Some vets

I want Holliday and Mayo here as much as anyone, but can’t fault Elias for playing the hand he’s dealt. Also, depth over 162, and gaining advantages around the margins, is how we repeat last season’s regular season success.  

[BRobinsonfan]

Elias must be playing some kind of 3-D Vulcan chess with this move.  

[ChosenOne21]

Just when we thought we were safe from having an aging, below average left-handed second baseman on the roster...

[sportsfan8703]

Also, this is similar to O’Hearn, and Jake Cave last year. Sign a vet to slightly over the league minimum, so if you need to pass him through waivers that extra salary might help him not get claimed. 

[interloper]

16 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

I feel like this has to set up a Urias trade. Platoon this guy and Mateo at 2nd until either Mayo or Holliday is called up.

Kind of what I'm hoping for as well. 

[ThisIsBirdland]

3 minutes ago, ChosenOne21 said:

Just when we thought we were safe from having an aging, below average left-handed second baseman on the roster...

[ThisIsBirdland]

Not so sure about this track record...

[Aristotelian]

5 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I really like what Elias has done with the bench. 

- Position flexibility

- Can match up L/R anywhere

- Speed off the bench

- Defense off the bench

- Some vets

I want Holliday and Mayo here as much as anyone, but can’t fault Elias for playing the hand he’s dealt. Also, depth over 162, and gaining advantages around the margins, is how we repeat last season’s regular season success.  

Interesting take. That is probably the best way to make sense of it. At the end of the day I don't really care who has the last bench spot. Whoever it is, they shouldn't play over Cowser/Westburg/Urias. We can overthink matchups and such.

[Tony-OH]

18 minutes ago, ChosenOne21 said:

Just when we thought we were safe from having an aging, below average left-handed second baseman on the roster...

At least he only cost 1/8 the price of Frazier. 

[Moose Milligan]

5 minutes ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

Not so sure about this track record...

Of all these guys, I gotta say I'd go with Rio Ruiz if I had to choose one.

Weeeooohhh wuuuuwheeeeezzzz

[interloper]

Just now, Moose Milligan said:

Of all these guys, I gotta say I'd go with Rio Ruiz if I had to choose one.

Weeeooohhh wuuuuwheeeeezzzz

Poor Garceau. No one was happier when he got DFA'd. 

[Warehouse]

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

Elias seems not to get that Urias and Westburg both have reverse splits. 

The Kemp move is a head scratcher that I can’t quite figure out but these splits are unlikely to be predictive.

Over his career, Urias has hit righties better than lefties but that is entirely driven by BABIP and not backed up by peripherals (where he is about even). ZIPS projects about equivalent performance from both sides of the plate.  Of course, this also means there is little benefit in platooning Urias.

The Westburg reverse splits above are presumably based on his 81 AAA PAs vs lefties last year, which isn’t a large enough sample size.  ZIPS projects a material platoon split for him this year.

Edited March 26 by Warehouse

[Spy Fox]

Urias trade has been mentioned a few times in this thread. With Kemp's IF/OF flexibility, and the public statements about Gunnar playing SS full-time, I wonder if a Mateo trade is a more likely follow-up here.