Holliday called up!

[George Zuverink]

51 minutes ago, EdwinRip said:

Would hate to lose kemp this early in the season.  A veteran clubhouse presence can’t be overstated for this team.

Veteran clubhouse presence! There it is!  Matt agreed to be Jackson’s chaperone until he proves he can hit LHP and turn the DP

[RZNJ]

1 minute ago, Aristotelian said:

I thought there was a chance he would wait and see how the other rookies are doing. However, calling up Holliday mid series is perhaps the weirdest part. You could be right to suspect something with Westburg. 

Could be but having Kemp as your backup 2B when Holliday is the primary one would be a strange roster construction.    

[Billy F-Face3]

6 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

It’s also odd that they would have his ML debut be on the road. 
 

 

 

4 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

This is the one thing that made me raise an eyebrow. 
 

 

Actually this isj't anything unusual for many of the players they brought up. DL Hall, Grayson Rodriguez, Tarrin Vavra, Yusniel Diaz, and Gunnar Henderson all had MLB debuts on the road in the last 2 seasons. The only one I can remember that had a home game debut in their call up was Westburg. All the others I previously mentioned debut in Texas, and DL Hall appeared on the road in Tampa.

[Billy F-Face3]

Just now, Billy F-Face3 said:

 

Actually this isj't anything unusual for many of the players they brought up. DL Hall, Grayson Rodriguez, Tarrin Vavra, Yusniel Diaz, and Gunnar Henderson all had MLB debuts on the road in the last 2 seasons. The only one I can remember that had a home game debut in their call up was Westburg. All the others I previously mentioned debut in Texas, and DL Hall appeared on the road in Tampa.

And Gunnar debut on the road in Cleveland.

[emmett16]

13 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Good Lord man. TAKE A DEEP BREATH and don't think you have to personally go on crusade to defend Elias IN EVERYTHING HE DOES. Signing Kemp was dumb. It was unnecessary. They had Maton and for the little bit they used Kemp they could have used Maton. 

Now who cares if they spend $300k ish more than major league minimum, it's was a dumb unnecessary move that made little sense when it happened. 

The fact that it appears that Holliday is not going to be down for any length, and signing Kemp makes even less sense. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. 

I agree it was a head scratcher and said as much.  Again I wouldn’t have done it.  But folks made a big deal out of a very minor move like it was a life or death situation.  It means absolutely zero in the long run.  I get we all need things to talk about, but the random 1 week Tony kemp signing got a lot of play. 

[Aristotelian]

9 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

I think the kid bats last for a minute ala Jeter.

Kutter C. and Whitlock might get:

SS Gunnar, C Adley, RF Santander, 1B Mountcastle, DH O'Hearn, CF Mullins, LF Cowser, 3B Westburg, 2B Holliday

Roster Resource has made the Cowser in for Hays switch on its guessed Go To lineup v. RHP.

I don't believe in the slightest that a day to day emerging injury scenario has affected this colossal data-driven decision.

Why would the callup come mid series on the road? Could it be a combination of Kemp and Westburg sucking, along with Holliday dominating AAA and Carter/Langford not doing much for Texas? Add it all up and Sigbot also says calling up now is the best bet get the extra year and won't hurt/may help the team?

[24fps]

17 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

You can't possibly believe less than 15 PAs against lefties changed anything, can you?

OTOH you can't believe signing Tony Kemp changed anything either can you?  I'm a big Elias fan, but he's made a couple of baffling moves at this point. 

Anxiously awaiting the explanation for Holliday's promotion...

[jcaponio]

1 minute ago, Billy F-Face3 said:

 

Actually this isj't anything unusual for many of the players they brought up. DL Hall, Grayson Rodriguez, Tarrin Vavra, Yusniel Diaz, and Gunnar Henderson all had MLB debuts on the road in the last 2 seasons. The only one I can remember that had a home game debut in their call up was Westburg. All the others I previously mentioned debut in Texas, and DL Hall appeared on the road in Tampa.

Adley was at home. 

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

I’m not saying it’s what I’d do, I’m trying to explain his thought process.  Seem to make perfect sense to me.  Not how’d I’d do it, but also it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.  I wanted him up day 1 and thought he would be and was pretty vocal about it. 

Well when the reasons he was sent down for a few weeks don’t seem to make sense in the first place, I dunno.  They said he needs to work on hitting lefties better and he got 12 PAs against them. That doesn’t seem to be a lot to improve upon. 
 

 

[Orioles Jim]

 

16 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Good Lord man. TAKE A DEEP BREATH and don't think you have to personally go on crusade to defend Elias IN EVERYTHING HE DOES. Signing Kemp was dumb. It was unnecessary. They had Maton and for the little bit they used Kemp they could have used Maton. 

Now who cares if they spend $300k ish more than major league minimum, it was a dumb unnecessary move that made little sense when it happened. 

The fact that it appears that Holliday is not going to be down for any length, and signing Kemp makes even less sense. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. 

Hell, I’d have preferred they give Errol Robinson the job off his hot spring (and where he’s still batting 841 OPS in AAA) but I do admit to being a diehard Ole Miss homer.

But seriously, I agree 100%, not an earth-shaker but the Kemp move makes zero sense. 

[George Zuverink]

29 minutes ago, deward said:

Smart people who are good at their jobs still make dumb mistakes sometimes. 

To say nothing of dumb posters.

[Orioles Jim]

4 minutes ago, Billy F-Face3 said:

 

Actually this isj't anything unusual for many of the players they brought up. DL Hall, Grayson Rodriguez, Tarrin Vavra, Yusniel Diaz, and Gunnar Henderson all had MLB debuts on the road in the last 2 seasons. The only one I can remember that had a home game debut in their call up was Westburg. All the others I previously mentioned debut in Texas, and DL Hall appeared on the road in Tampa.

Now it’s all about hoping we get Mayo and Basallo at home for their home debuts!

…just reading what you said and then typing out my response…lord, we’re spoiled…

[RZNJ]

2 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

I agree it was a head scratcher and said as much.  Again I wouldn’t have done it.  But folks made a big deal out of a very minor move like it was a life or death situation.  It means absolutely zero in the long run.  I get we all need things to talk about, but the random 1 week Tony kemp signing got a lot of play. 

This reminds me how @Tony-OH got when Elias cornered the market on AAAA catchers back in 2022.  

[Orioles West]

Count me in with the, "I'll never understand the Kemp signing," side of things -- but it doesn't put a big dent on the GM's rep.

My guess is, even Elias, who attends so many games home and away, couldn't stomach another at bat where Kemp looks slow and overwhelmed. 

[baltfan]

56 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

Development & reps.  He’s had 51 PAs….in comparison Gunnar has had 39.   He likely wouldn’t have started every game and would have only had like 25-30 by now.  He got time to work at 2B.  He avoided some of the more challenging lefties in MLB.  

Yep this is the answer.  They knew he wouldn’t play much the first couple of weeks because of matchups or if he did that he would likely struggle.  This way they get him off to a good start and still bring him up so that he isn’t upset about service time and they can still get the ROTY pick.