Holliday optioned, McKenna recalled

[RZNJ]

3 minutes ago, Orioles0615 said:

Well Hyde has his prodigal son back so wait until Mckenna plays over Cowser against lefties 

Might as well get used to it.  Probably gonna happen when Hays comes back.

[deward]

4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Why McKenna?  Perhaps this is why.

It's not a great start against LHP this year, but he had an OPS of .708 in 119 PA vs them last year, so I'd be surprised if Elias considers this sample more predictive of future performance than 2023. 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Malike said:

He's 23, he'll be on the team at some point this year I think Stowers is another matter, it appears they don't believe he's a ML player.

His baseball age is 24.

I think he's more likely to be traded than to suit up in Baltimore.

[Pickles]

3 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

They won’t be able to get Kjerstad AB’s as it is.  Stowers makes no sense whatsoever.

I'd let Stowers bat against LHP tbh.

But for me it's more about throwing the guy a bone.  Yeah, he might only be up a week, and get 4 at-bats, but he's on the 40, and he's not the kind of prospect I'm worried about interrupting his development etc.  

[RZNJ]

1 minute ago, Ohfan67 said:

Yeah, McKenna still doesn’t have an option, right?

Right.

[Gurgi]

49 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

While I don't think the "media circus" driven by the Orioles PR, to include giving away his t-shirt in his home debut, caused his problems, I'm a believer that you make a guy earn it at the big league level before you start giving away his likeness on t-shirts or bobbleheads. 

I don't care who you are, you don't need any added pressure while trying to make your way in the big leagues.

You think the shirt thing was already in the works before the sale was concluded?  I think it was planned to get a huge gate on an otherwise sleepy day in April.  And i don't think it was wise at least in hindsight.  The kid didnt need the added pressure but its hard to imagine he would suck this spectacularly. 
 

But on the bright side we dont have to listen to Matt Holliday go around talking smack about not bringing up his amazing son who is totally ready to play right now.  Now we can keep him down for as long as we want and Matt and Boras and the Players Union can go pound sand.  We brought him up and he could not hit a ball to save his life.  Honestly he isnt ready hitting or defensively.  
 

Norby must really not be able to play second because otherwise he would have his golden chance.

Edited April 26 by Gurgi

[TopGunnar]

10 minutes ago, dystopia said:

Most people here wanted him on the OD roster and those that didn’t were just wanting the extra year. Nobody thought he wasn’t ready after seeing him in ST. 

Yea but most people on this board don’t get paid to evaluate players at a professional level. 
 

That’s my point though. He wasn’t ready for opening day but he was ready 3 weeks later?

[Malike]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

His baseball age is 24.

I think he's more likely to be traded than to suit up in Baltimore.

It's possible, I think there are enough question marks about his defense or he would have been traded over the winter. Hopefully, he's playing decent OF.

[DirtyBird]

5 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I'd let Stowers bat against LHP tbh.

But for me it's more about throwing the guy a bone.  Yeah, he might only be up a week, and get 4 at-bats, but he's on the 40, and he's not the kind of prospect I'm worried about interrupting his development etc.  

He'd make a better case for himself if he were hitting in AAA

[Satyr3206]

McKenna, Urias and Mateo. I need some Maalox before I throw up.

[Pickles]

1 minute ago, DirtyBird said:

He'd make a better case for himself if he were hitting in AAA

He's got an .866 OPS after a torrid Spring Training.

How do you define "hitting?"

[Just Regular]

Maybe the same Tides social media person who did the pictures for the May 2023 Grayson Rodriguez promotions will get to do them for the May 2024 Jackson Holliday promotions.    Baseball has at times been critiqued for not marketing its players well...

I get doing this early as insurance if based on the early results they just think Urias is the better practical choice for the short term.    While OAK has a couple very talented Arms, overall their pitching isn't that strong.

I think the 12th and 13th bats on the roster are especially light use on rosters where the first string is very strong, so Banuelos, McKenna day to day matters very little.    If Hays or anyone else on the first string was out a month, I believe we'd more likely see Stowers or Norby.     

[DirtyBird]

5 minutes ago, Pickles said:

He's got an .866 OPS after a torrid Spring Training.

How do you define "hitting?"

His OPS is inflated by the series vs Charlotte when everyone was posting OPS's over 1.000

He has 1 HR since that series. A .768 OPS in the past 7 days and .670 OPS vs LHP on the season.

At 26 years old in AAA, I would define "hitting" as dominating the level. He is not doing that.

[Just Regular]

Some of the precise timing here too I think is to give Urias and Mateo the repetitions before Yankees.

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

The fact that they added McKenna instead or Norby tells me this is a very short term thing. Still, I would have liked to have seen Norby be given his shot, but maybe they were worried he come up, hit, and then they'd still had to make room for Hays next week. 

Not overly surprised that Holliday was optioned, only slightly surprised they didn't do it before the Angels series with the two lefty starters scheduled. 

Yep.   To do that, though, they pretty much would have had to have decided before Sunday's game in KC, because right afterwards the team flew from KC to California, and there would be no sense in Holliday making that flight and then flying to Norfolk.    And someone (travelling secretary) would have to arrange a flight from KC to Norfolk for Holliday.   So those wheels would have had to go into motion Saturday night at the latest, and maybe they weren't ready to pull the trigger that soon.   Making a guy fly by himself from KC to Norfolk while the rest of the team celebrates a win and flies in the other direciton can't be fun.

I remember when a lot of people felt it was classless that the Mets fired manager Willie Randolph in the middle of a West Coast trip.