5-4 Start not horrible but should be better

[Malike]

Just now, RZNJ said:

Not what I’ve been reading on the minor league board although I thought he looked good there in ST.

I've watched the last 5 games. He's made some fantastic plays and the only error I saw was the one where he lobbed the ball well over the SS head trying to turn two. I don't know what the other was, but he has excellent range there.

[RZNJ]

9 minutes ago, Malike said:

I've watched the last 5 games. He's made some fantastic plays and the only error I saw was the one where he lobbed the ball well over the SS head trying to turn two. I don't know what the other was, but he has excellent range there.

Just one example.  The Jackson Holliday 2024 thread is available to the general public.

[Sanfran327]

58 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Ok.  Cowser platoons with Hays.  Sounds like you want to give most of O’Hearns AB to Stowers.   O’Hearn OPS .800 last year and is off to a good start.   You’re pretty sure Stowers will do better?

Stowers is a better OF defender. So yes, I'm okay with that. And if Stowers doesn't do better, then you go to Kjerstad, who I (and I would imagine most of us) would believe would absolutely do better than O'Hearn. Good to have multiple options. 

I'm also on record saying that I believe Stowers and Norby will be traded, so when I say replace O'Hearn with Stowers, I probably really mean Kjerstad. Problem there is that you can't bring up Stowers to fix a short-term problem and risk him falling on his face and making him even less valuable. Yes he's old for a prospect and yes everyone probably remembers his lackluster cup of coffee a while ago, but this surge has to be doing something to boost his value. I don't think it can be ignored.

Again, for a team that is really maxing out its 26 man roster, there are plenty of ABs to go around for so many good players. It's not that I think O'Hearn is bad, it's that I absolutely think he should never see the outfield again, and that he's better in a limited role. Yes, he OPS'd .800 last year, but go look up how many ABs he had. He's better in a part time role.

It's been pointed out that we really only have 1 everyday position player, and that's Gunnar. Rutschman, Santander, Westburg, Mullins, and Mountcastle are the next tier of regular, majority starters. Hays, Cowser, O'Hearn, and McCann are the third platoon tier that are either in a platoon with each other (Hays & Cowser), or on the short end of one (O'Hearn & McCann). And Mateo, Kemp, and Urias are at the end of the bench. At least this is how I view the roster for now.

[.500_OR_BETTER]

We are in only in this position right now because we are not playing our best players in our organization.   Honestly - How many more games are we going to go through with Hays, Urias, Mateo, and Kemp........

 

We need to bring up Holliday and another OF prospect.  Although I am not opposed to bringing up Mayo as he can play 3B / 1B / DH.  Westburg can slide into the super utility role. 

 

 

[RZNJ]

10 minutes ago, .500_OR_BETTER said:

We are in only in this position right now because we are not playing our best players in our organization.   Honestly - How many more games are we going to go through with Hays, Urias, Mateo, and Kemp........

 

We need to bring up Holliday and another OF prospect.  Although I am not opposed to bringing up Mayo as he can play 3B / 1B / DH.  Westburg can slide into the super utility role. 

 

 

What position are we in?   We were one play from being 6-3.

[dystopia]

2 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

What position are we in?   We were one play from being 6-3.

We were also very close to being swept by KC, or at least losing 2/3. It evens out. 
 

 

[Sports Guy]

Yea, I think 5-4 is a pretty good representation of where we should be record wise.

That said, the pitching has looked very good early on and that is very encouraging. This team will hit, I don’t doubt that.

 

[RZNJ]

31 minutes ago, dystopia said:

We were also very close to being swept by KC, or at least losing 2/3. It evens out. 
 

 

Ok.  My point is that we aren't in dire straits.   Starting pitching looks good.  Bullpen, overall, looks good.   Offense has been bad but has a track record much better. 

[interloper]

10 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Ok.  My point is that we aren't in dire straits.   Starting pitching looks good.  Bullpen, overall, looks good.   Offense has been bad but has a track record much better. 

Pretty much agree with this take. Defense has been hit or miss too. Some really awesome plays, some really terrible plays. Bullpen looks alright, but we have 2 untrustworthy spots right now in Baumann and Heasley. We need to turn one of those spots into a late-inning reliever option at some point. Probably won't be for a while, but yeah. 

Edited April 8 by interloper

[dystopia]

16 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Ok.  My point is that we aren't in dire straits.   Starting pitching looks good.  Bullpen, overall, looks good.   Offense has been bad but has a track record much better. 

Don’t disagree. We’re not in dire straits. We’ve played lackluster defense and the offense has been pretty terrible, but we’re still 5-4. 
 

It is very, very early. No reason to panic. 

[lfallo1]

We're fine .. for now .. but if we continue playing around .500 ball for the next few weeks with better players in Norfolk, it will get old fast.

[OnlyOneOriole]

4 hours ago, dystopia said:

Don’t disagree. We’re not in dire straits. We’ve played lackluster defense and the offense has been pretty terrible, but we’re still 5-4. 
 

It is very, very early. No reason to panic. 

We have also played 2 bad to mediocre teams, and one pretty good but not ELITE team. 

That plays a huge part of why the O's even have a winning record.   With 6 of those games being at home.

If they play this way the rest of the year against teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, Braves, Rangers, Rays etc?.  With the same players?  We may have won 1 or 2 games.  And lets face it Elias has shown NO inclination to get rid of the vets for the youngsters, (in fact quite the opposite).  So if that stays true then we will be lucky to finish .500 for the year. 

You don't win games, and especially championships,  with black holes such as Urias, Mateo, Hays, and Kemp playing some to a majority of the time.

That is a pathetic lineup when even 2 of them are in the starting lineup.  Just complete below average JAGS. 

Don't put lipstick on a pig and call it Megan Fox.

Edited April 8 by OnlyOneOriole

[OnlyOneOriole]

Btw all of you Elias management apologists that called me a liar (here is looking at you Corn and Moose) amongst other things in my "management is placing $ over wins this year" thread?

Here is an exact quote (below) from the Camden Chat dot com website today.  He says the exact same thing as what I said in that thread. 

Players....and humans...are not robots.  Players believing that the organization is not putting the best players on the MLB roster after they see everyone play all spring training....and that that has no effect on team morale?

I have nothing to say other than you guys sit in your basement. Playing video games.   Having never played a real sport.  You are literal AI robots.

Here is the quote....

It’s kind of incredible to me that it’s been a cold spell up and down the lineup. The theory being tossed around in my household is that they were all so demoralized when Jackson Holliday was sent to the minors that they haven’t been able to recover. This isn’t a serious belief (or is it?), but in frustration we’ll say pretty much anything.

Edited April 9 by OnlyOneOriole

[Can_of_corn]

I've been called many things in my life but never an Elias apologist.

Wow. 

We also don't have basements in Florida.

[foxfield]

On 4/7/2024 at 4:22 PM, oriolediehard said:

How come with a new owner,  that there is no change? The owner could push Elias to bring up our prospects and find or trade for bullpen help? I don't know how doing nothing helps up??

If you didn’t learn from the last owner managing the team….i really don’t know how to help you.