5-4 Start not horrible but should be better

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, RZNJ said:

Right. A poor throw from an awkward position throwing sidearm and knowing he had to put everything on that throw to get the runner.   Almost made one of the greatest game ending plays in Oriole history.   Stuff happens.  Cano loads the bases with no outs and ALMOST escapes.

Yeah, I'm not sure some people realize how close he came to pulling that off. As for the people who say he should have put that in his pocket, an accurate throw and the Orioles actually win the game because he appeared to have him beat.

Either way, Cano almost got himself out of that mess he put himself into. 

It's game of inches and with no wiggle room due to a dormant offense right now, these losses will happen because the bullpen is not going to be perfect every time out.

[Sports Guy]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

@Frobby homework is to see how many 5-4 stretches there were last year. 

They started the season 5-4

[Moshagge3]

1 minute ago, DirtyBird said:

And they only had a chance to establish any track record because the organization was in the dumpster as they came up.

Why is that even relevant? Austin Hays was the MLB #23 ranked prospect in 2018, he was getting a chance no matter what the big league team was doing.

[maybenxtyr]

6 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

They started the season 5-4

4-5 start last year...

[DirtyBird]

9 minutes ago, Moshagge3 said:

Why is that even relevant? Austin Hays was the MLB #23 ranked prospect in 2018, he was getting a chance no matter what the big league team was doing.

This really shouldn’t be difficult to comprehend. The organization was a dumpster fire. His major league performance didn’t matter. He had the chance to establish a track record of being slightly above average.

Now the organization is supposed to be a World Series contender. He is performing below average and he is blocking prospects.

Therefore, those prospects have no opportunity to establish their own track record.

Edited April 7 by DirtyBird

[Sports Guy]

4 minutes ago, maybenxtyr said:

4-5 start last year...

Ok. Saw someone say they started 5-4.  Either way, it’s whatever.

[RZNJ]

15 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

Oh, we got Buck here talking “track record”.

Please. How long are their track records?

And they only had a chance to establish any track record because the organization was in the dumpster as they came up.

As someone just asked you, what does your last sentence have to do with their track records?

Hays is 28 and has 3 years of 700+ OPS with .769 last year.

Mullins is 29 and has 3 years with .721 the last two years.   Those are called track records which mean more to Elias than the last 2-3 months and first 9 games of this year.   Maybe these guys are in decline at 28 and 29.  Elias didn’t seem to think so by tendering them contacts and not trading them.  Are you betting on sub .700 OPS from both of them this year?

Edited April 7 by RZNJ

[RZNJ]

4 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

This really shouldn’t be difficult to comprehend. The organization was a dumpster fire. His major league performance didn’t matter. He had the chance to establish a track record of being slightly above average.

Now the organization is supposed to be a World Series contender. He is performing below average and blocking prospects.

Therefore, those prospects have no opportunity to establish their own track record.

Right.  And, if Hays is not performing he’s going to lose more and more time to Cowser.  Isn’t that what you want?   The team has a little more patience and belief and Hays and Mullins than you do.   It’s possible they both get hot and ruin everything for you.

[DirtyBird]

5 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Right.  And, if Hays is not performing he’s going to lose more and more time to Cowser.  Isn’t that what you want?   The team has a little more patience and belief and Hays and Mullins than you do.   It’s possible they both get hot and ruin everything for you.

So one has to fail in order to give the other a chance to succeed? 
Why not give both an opportunity to succeed from the beginning?

[Moshagge3]

2 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

This really shouldn’t be difficult to comprehend. The organization was a dumpster fire. His major league performance didn’t matter. He had the chance to establish a track record of being slightly above average.

Now the organization is supposed to be a World Series contender. He is performing below average and blocking prospects.

Therefore, those prospects have no opportunity to establish their own track record.

And again, it's nine games. If Hays is still hitting .076 in two weeks, he'll start to lose playing time.

[RZNJ]

3 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

So one has to fail in order to give the other a chance to succeed? 
Why not give both an opportunity to succeed from the beginning?

Cowser is getting an opportunity.  He has to hit and the more he hits and Hays doesn’t hit, the more opportunities he’ll get.   Hyde isn’t/wasn’t going to full platoon Hays from the start.   You don’t like it.  That’s how it is.  

[Orioles0615]

1 hour ago, Malike said:

Yeah it's pretty funny that people think the cure to the offensive woes is bringing up the kids from Norfolk. I mean, Ryan McKenna has a 1.000 OPS down there and he can't hit ML pitching, but the guys with absolutely no experience against ML pitching should all be brought up at once and they'll just mash.

Then lets trade Heston and Mayo for Luzardo 

[Going Underground]

37 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Yeah, I'm not sure some people realize how close he came to pulling that off. As for the people who say he should have put that in his pocket, an accurate throw and the Orioles actually win the game because he appeared to have him beat.

Either way, Cano almost got himself out of that mess he put himself into. 

It's game of inches and with no wiggle room due to a dormant offense right now, these losses will happen because the bullpen is not going to be perfect every time out.

Also possible since it was two outs  and Gunnar was  on the ground ,the runner from second might have tried to score.Would have been a tough throw to home from where Gunnar was.

[bpilktree]

2 hours ago, DirtyBird said:

Austin Hays and Cedric Mullins both significantly under .700 OPS in the 2nd half last season. Even worse so far this year.

But I guess, “we know our prospects aren’t going to hit in the majors, so their presence won’t make a difference”, is the detailed perspective that helps you rationalize terrible offensive performances against mediocre pitchers.

The problem is you can’t just give on guys that are proven major league players.  Is your plan release Mullins, Hays, Urias, Mateo ad bring up Kjerstad, Norby, Hays, Holliday.  So what happens if they do struggle or get hurt then we have no one that can replace them because that will happen.  Our biggest strength for a full season should be depth and ability to replace guys long term not a week into the season.  The one question I do have is why we have Kemp on the team we don’t need another light hitting left hander.  It should be Norby or even McKenna who could play center in games like today with Mullins on bench vs lefty.  

[Since1984]

2 hours ago, Pat Kelly said:

If the Orioles lose the division by a few games or continue to not hit then this has been a gross miscalculation by Elias.  No reason to hoard a bunch of bats in NFLK and leave the major league team short.  Os are not going to win a bunch of 2-1 games with this BP and a spectacular at times but unsteady defense.  
 

Os pitching and defense is better than the Yankees but the Yanks are hitting their way to victory.  Os showed that elite hitting in Spring Training.   It’s there but in the minors.  Elias this is your strategy so hope you know what you are doing. 

How would construct the team for opening day?