Should Santander and Mullins be Starting at this Point?

[chipster22]

With current BA's hugging the Mendoza line, should Santander and Mullins be starting every night? Sure, Cedric is great defensively in CF and it's nice to have a switch hitter with pop, but neither is contributing much to the offense after one month.  Should the youngsters be getting more time in the outfield?

[ChosenOne21]

I'm fine with giving Santander a few extra days off to get Kjerstad some playing time. We don't have great options to replace Mullins. Cowser isn't a great CF and McKenna, while white hot right now, doesn't have the track record.

[wildcard]

3 minutes ago, chipster22 said:

With current BA's hugging the Mendoza line, should Santander and Mullins be starting every night? Sure, Cedric is great defensively in CF and it's nice to have a switch hitter with pop, but neither is contributing much to the offense after one month.  Should the youngsters be getting more time in the outfield?

We have seen this from Santander before.  He is just getting warmed up.   He doesn't have to play everyday but he should be in there most of the time.

Cedric has a 791 OPS vs righties so far this season.   I think Hyde will platoon him vs many lefties.

[Hank Scorpio]

No reason to panic at this point. 

I agree that they both have looked pretty bad at the plate so far. 

[Fiver6565]

Santander literally had three hits and 5 RBI including a grand slam, TWO GAMES AGO.  Mullins had one of the just three hits the entire team had, last night.

By all means lets bench these guys.

These are the kinds of threads that cause me to just close the browser and walk away from the board for a while.

[Moose Milligan]

If they were going to give Tony days off, it should have been the previous three weeks and giving Kjerstad more time at the plate and in the field.  This is typically when he heats up, so I expect they'll keep putting him in there.

Not worried about Cedric too much, either.  

[Rbiggs2525]

I was looking at our analytical website and Santander numbers speak for themselves. My main concern would be EV. So many pop outs.

[Sports Guy]

Yes of course they should.  
 

But should they play 150+ games?  No

[Aristotelian]

Honestly we should add Cowser to the list. Since his hot start he has looked like he has hit a wall the last couple weeks. Between all these guys just getting regular rest we should be seeing Kjerstad 3-4 times a week.

[DrungoHazewood]

Yes (they should be starting).

Edited May 8 by DrungoHazewood

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

Defensively the best player suited to play CF besides Mullins is McKenna who might be gone when Hays returns. Defensively Mullins gives this team a lot in CF even if he's not hitting.

Hays or Cowser can cover CF to give Mullins a rest, but there's going to be a drop off in their defense. Until the Orioles have another player capable of playing defense in CF Mullins is going to be the starter. One position player move I wouldn't rule out is Elias getting a utility outfielder who can competently play CF. 

Edited May 8 by OsFanSinceThe80s

[Spy Fox]

Yes. But I wouldn’t mind to see them sharing a bit more time with Kjerstad. And with Hays I guess when he returns. 

[Too Tall]

Did someone say McKenna and "white hot?" Never ever thought I'd be around to read that and I like - root for McKenna. Again, I want to see more of Kjerstad before they send him down. How Hyde does it, I don't care. 

[jabba72]

I'm curious why Hyde has Mullins in the lineup tonight. .389 OPS vs LH this year. I mean, as long as Mckenna's on the team he should probably be in a platoon with Mullins. 

[Natty]

We keep going up against average pitchers who shut us down.

We need to play the hitters.