Cedric Mullins 2024

[ChuckS]

12 hours ago, Frobby said:

One day you wake up and Cedric Mullins is at 2.1 rWAR, 2.0 fWAR, 105 OPS+ and making ridiculous flying catches in the outfield.   That play last night, by the way, was a 10% probabilty catch.

He tracks and closes on those gappers just about as good as anyone. 

[Since1984]

14 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

He tracks and closes on those gappers just about as good as anyone. 

Ced is in 30/30 mode! 

[sportsfan8703]

Mullins with an outside shot at 20/20. 
 

If you take away his career year, and rookie year, he’s been pretty much a .720-.728 OPS player. That’s pretty valuable with GG defense and SB. 

Also, Mullins is a vet for us. I like that Hyde is turning to him as a vet, with the bats struggling. We need him to step up. Maybe it lights an additional fire under him?

[Just Regular]

Cedric has the 3rd lowest BABIP of the 25 CF with the most plate appearances this season, along with Corbin Carroll, Jose Siri and Daulton Varsho.

.350, .322, .299, .271 and .260 year to date is his 5-year BABIP scan.    

Most of their Orioles tenure I've felt Mullins was a big favorite over Santander to command a QO and ~$80M.    It is nice to have had that guy back for awhile now.

[Too Tall]

My favorite had a game! Oh, he had a game. I am so pumped this morning. Someone on here suggested Mullins be moved into Adley's place in the batting order and Hyde listened. And, my favorite had a game. Onward!!!!!!!!!!

[Sports Guy]

He has done a great job increasing his trade value.

But he has also made it easier to keep him if they want to go that route.

I don’t know that I would tempt fate on that one and I think we need to trade guys to get better depth and to get players on this team for other areas of need.

This is not a good FA year, so besides some minor pieces, your larger upgrades will have to be in trades.

Edited September 11 by Sports Guy

[waroriole]

19 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

He has done a great job increasing his trade value.

But he has also made it easier to keep him if they want to go that route.

I don’t know that I would tempt fate on that one and I think we need to trade guys to get better depth and to get players on this team for other areas of need.

This is not a good FA year, so besides some minor pieces, your larger upgrades will have to be in trades.

What’s a trade example that actually makes since with Mullins? I can’t think of one. 

[Sports Guy]

9 minutes ago, waroriole said:

What’s a trade example that actually makes since with Mullins? I can’t think of one. 

There are going to be plenty. It’s hard to know who will or will not be available but Mullins will be someone that would be in demand by many different types of teams.

 

[Frobby]

Mullins has been called Captain Pop-Up by some this year, and honestly, that first homer would have been attracting that monicker if he’d hit that same ball just about anywhere else.   But he didn’t, he hit it in Fenway.  The second one was a blast.   I’m glad he’s gotten on a bit of a roll.   Hopefully he can keep it up the rest of the way.  

[Sports Guy]

Interesting what they said about Mullins last night…that he was done chasing 2021. Many of us have talked about him trying to hit homers. Sounds like he was doing exactly that. Maybe being more settled in and “knowing who he is” has really helped him.

[Frobby]

25 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Interesting what they said about Mullins last night…that he was done chasing 2021. Many of us have talked about him trying to hit homers. Sounds like he was doing exactly that. Maybe being more settled in and “knowing who he is” has really helped him.

I tend to think that “not chasing 2021” stuff is just ex post facto rationalization.   Mullins has had a roller coaster year, and right now he’s up, after a down August.   I don’t see that he’s really changed his approach, but right now his swing is more in sync than it’s been at some other times this year, that’s all.   Hopefully it stays there.   

[RZNJ]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

I tend to think that “not chasing 2021” stuff is just ex post facto rationalization.   Mullins has had a roller coaster year, and right now he’s up, after a down August.   I don’t see that he’s really changed his approach, but right now his swing is more in sync than it’s been at some other times this year, that’s all.   Hopefully it stays there.   

Exactly.  Mr. “I can’t believe how many people are swayed by SSS on this board” is letting 6 games and a throw away comment color his thinking.   LOL

Mullins had an .877 OPS in June.  .800 in July.

[Prodigyx]

Seems like with regular playing time he is hitting much better.   Does keeping him around until Bradfield is ready make sense? 

[Sports Guy]

21 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I tend to think that “not chasing 2021” stuff is just ex post facto rationalization.   Mullins has had a roller coaster year, and right now he’s up, after a down August.   I don’t see that he’s really changed his approach, but right now his swing is more in sync than it’s been at some other times this year, that’s all.   Hopefully it stays there.   

I don’t think he’s just talking about 2024 though. If he believes he was chasing the “ghost of 2021”, chances are he was doing it in 2022 and 2023 as well. 

As an example, look at his launch angle numbers.  In 2021, it was 14.8.

Since then, it has been 17.4, 21.6 and this year it’s 23.1. ML average is 12.3.

That tells me he’s a guy who has been trying to get more lift to hit more homers. If he has realized that and is trying to not do that, I think that’s encouraging. 

Clearly he believes it’s been a problem.

 

Edited September 11 by Sports Guy

[sportsfan8703]

3 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

He has done a great job increasing his trade value.

But he has also made it easier to keep him if they want to go that route.

I don’t know that I would tempt fate on that one and I think we need to trade guys to get better depth and to get players on this team for other areas of need.

This is not a good FA year, so besides some minor pieces, your larger upgrades will have to be in trades.

I hear what you're saying, but do we really need position player depth?  I mean, we sort of did some depth consolidation trades with position players for SP.  Heck, we even traded Cook for Reilly.  Can we really withstand losing Mullins and Santa?  Especially if we're serious about contending for a WS.  

Depth:

Mayo - Can cover 1B/3B.  This also provides depth in a way because Westburg could slide to 2B if need be.  

Basallo - C

Kjerstad - Direct replacement for Santa

CF - Alot of draft capital in the minors.  EBJ, Honeycutt, Overn, and Fabian.  

Plus position versatility guys like Urias, Mateo, Gunnar, Westburg, and even a guy like O'Hearn(OF).  

At this point, I think we need to try and have the most talented 9 guys in the starting lineup, but we should always consider a move for SP.  You can never have too much SP depth.  We're seeing that this year.