Jordan Westburg 2024

[Just Regular]

The low walks and power driving the overall offensive contribution make it much more Hardy than Grich for me.

Looks like his Arb3 season will be his age 30 season.

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, dystopia said:

It would be disappointing if Westburg didn’t outperform Hardy offensively. So far he’s doing just that and then some. 

Hard to believe Hardy had a .564/54 OPS+ year for us. I don't remember him being that bad for that long. He did have years of 115 for MIL and 114 for us, but overall he was slightly below average offensively while producing GG level defense. So far Westburg is off to a 122 level.

Biggest similarities I see are the facial hair, stoic demeanor, and emphasis on fundamentals over flash on defense.

[Moose Milligan]

4 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Hard to believe Hardy had a .564/54 OPS+ year for us. I don't remember him being that bad for that long. He did have years of 115 for MIL and 114 for us, but overall he was slightly below average offensively while producing GG level defense. So far Westburg is off to a 122 level.

Biggest similarities I see are the facial hair, stoic demeanor, and emphasis on fundamentals over flash on defense.

JJ Hardy hit for a good bit of pop the first three seasons...30, 22, 25 homers.  And those teams were winners, too...I think a lot of us overlooked the lack of OBP, overall OPS at the time because of the things you mentioned and the power he hit for.  And I don't think anyone ever really got on him on the OH during the decline because he still provided a good glove and a steady presence for teams that were solid to very good.

 

[interloper]

24 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

JJ Hardy hit for a good bit of pop the first three seasons...30, 22, 25 homers.  And those teams were winners, too...I think a lot of us overlooked the lack of OBP, overall OPS at the time because of the things you mentioned and the power he hit for.  And I don't think anyone ever really got on him on the OH during the decline because he still provided a good glove and a steady presence for teams that were solid to very good.

 

Also by the time we got Hardy we had seen so many terrible no-hit/poor-fielding shortstops come through post-Tejada that I think everyone was perfectly willing to overlook some flaws to have a consistently all-around good shortstop. 

[sportsfan8703]

35 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Hard to believe Hardy had a .564/54 OPS+ year for us. I don't remember him being that bad for that long. He did have years of 115 for MIL and 114 for us, but overall he was slightly below average offensively while producing GG level defense. So far Westburg is off to a 122 level.

Biggest similarities I see are the facial hair, stoic demeanor, and emphasis on fundamentals over flash on defense.

Hardy 6'1" 200

Westburg 6'2" 210

Similarly built as well.  

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, interloper said:

Also by the time we got Hardy we had seen so many terrible no-hit/poor-fielding shortstops come through post-Tejada that I think everyone was perfectly willing to overlook some flaws to have a consistently all-around good shortstop. 

What, you didn't like the Juan Castro, Freddie Bynum, Alex Cintron, Brandon Fahey, Cesar Izturis era?

[interloper]

Just now, Moose Milligan said:

What, you didn't like the Juan Castro, Freddie Bynum, Alex Cintron, Brandon Fahey, Cesar Izturis era?

I did kind of love the Brandon Fahey era... lol. Will never forget Palmer describing him as a guy who "looks like he fell off the back of the turnip truck". 

[Spy Fox]

25 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

What, you didn't like the Juan Castro, Freddie Bynum, Alex Cintron, Brandon Fahey, Cesar Izturis era?

But out of the darkness, one legend would rise... 

[Moose Milligan]

45 minutes ago, Spy Fox said:

But out of the darkness, one legend would rise... 

Bob Dino!

Was at that game.  I'm not sure there's another player who had an otherwise unspectacular career as his is revered as some sort of cult hero for the Orioles.  Delmon and his double come close, but I think Delmon was a better player and had a better career.

Maybe this is hindsight being 20/20 but I always felt Robert Andino got kind of a pass just for that game and that moment after that.

[Spy Fox]

4 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Bob Dino!

Was at that game.  I'm not sure there's another player who had an otherwise unspectacular career as his is revered as some sort of cult hero for the Orioles.  Delmon and his double come close, but I think Delmon was a better player and had a better career.

Maybe this is hindsight being 20/20 but I always felt Robert Andino got kind of a pass just for that game and that moment after that.

I think that's all true, but Andino does have a couple other things that leave a positive memory. He played a lot for the 2012 playoff team while the others were dark ages only. And there's a reason he lasted longer than any of the names you mentioned, despite being a similar archetype: 

Total rWAR with the Orioles

• Andino 3.1
• Izturis 1.7
• Bynum -0.8
• Fahey -0.8
• Castro -1.2
• Cintron -1.2

[yark14]

Why does Hyde keep batting Westy around 7th in the order?

[Frobby]

I took this photo of Westburg’s hot and cold zones they showed on the postgame show.  Not a lot of cold there

 

[Malike]

8 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I took this photo of Westburg’s hot and cold zones they showed on the postgame show.  Not a lot of cold there

 

He definitely cooled off in May, hopefully, he can bump up to .750 or so next month and keep his OPS around .800. Great game tonight and he is a ballplayer.

[RZNJ]

1 hour ago, Malike said:

He definitely cooled off in May, hopefully, he can bump up to .750 or so next month and keep his OPS around .800. Great game tonight and he is a ballplayer.

Bump what up?  He has an .814 OPS in May.

[Malike]

4 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Bump what up?  He has an .814 OPS in May.

It was .707 before today. File your complaints directly to ESPN's reporting department. It's up to .740 now for May. I don't think it was an exaggeration at all to say he's cooled off, I'm not shocked you are contentious about it.

Edited May 26 by Malike