Maton Up, Stowers Down

[Spy Fox]

Guessing once Westburg can start again it’ll be Kjerstad up for Maton. 

[Sports Guy]

Good news for Westburg.

[eddie83]

Perhaps they were already thinking about sending down Stowers and the Westburg injury was the perfect time. 
 

There is no reason to sit Santander. Cowser will start vs RHP and Mullins is starting to show some signs. O’Hearn starts at DH vs RHP. Unless you are resting a guy Stowers has no where to play. 
 

Holliday hopefully can rejoin the team at some point. A LH second basemen fits this team better than Stowers and that is not a knock on Kyle. 

[eddie83]

12 minutes ago, Spy Fox said:

Guessing once Westburg can start again it’ll be Kjerstad up for Maton. 

I don’t think that happens. I think it’s same issue as before. Not enough bats.  

[Spy Fox]

1 minute ago, eddie83 said:

I don’t think that happens. I think it’s same issue as before. Not enough bats.  

My thinking is that they like having the LH power option off the bench, and they won't be allowed to recall Stowers for a couple weeks unless there's an IL placement. 

[Tony-OH]

38 minutes ago, Billy F-Face3 said:

I would have thought Norby would be a better player to choose.

Norby doesn't play 3B and the Orioles clearly do not want to move Henderson over even for a few games. Maton can play all three infield positions which allows all three infielders a backup while Westburg nurses his hip, which the Orioles obviously do not believe will last long enough to require an IL stint. 

[Ohfan67]

1 hour ago, Il BuonO said:

Are you implying they can't win with Stowers?

The regular players are likely to perform at a higher level than Stowers in the near future. I think the Orioles want to win as many games as possible this season and the highest probability path to winning games right now is playing Santander, Hays, Urias, etc. Those guys have warmed up and they are not going to bench them while they are playing well. I agree with you that basically Stowers is a Tier 2 prospect for the Orioles and they are unlikely to risk many wins for the development of a Tier 2 type. They have been able to handle Cowser's slump without a big negative effect on the team record, but he's more of a Tier 1 prospect . That said, I think Stowers will be back up sooner than later and will get additional opportunities if/when one of the established outfielders goes into a prolonged slump and/or is banged up. Santander and Hays have already dealt with some physical issues and that is likely to keep cropping up. Plus Mullins may continue to lose playing time in CF to Cowser unless he hits better (Mullins woke up a bit in the last week).  So I was basically agreeing with you, I think, but I think it's not that they don't care about Stowers, they are just balancing the highest probability of winning now, balancing working multiple inexperienced players into the lineup, all while trying to develop prospects as much as they at the ML level while balancing those trade-offs. 

 

Caveats:

I'm not advocating for this approach, just expressing my opinion on what the O's approach is. And of course a ton of people on the board see it in a very similar way, so nothing novel. Also, I really like Stowers, wish he had played a lot more by this point, and hope he becomes a really good player for the O's. 

[DirtyBird]

With Westburg back in the lineup, who comes up for Maton? We have shown that there isn't really any reason for Kjerstad to be on the roster. Could it be Mayo's time?

[RVAOsFan]

6 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

With Westburg back in the lineup, who comes up for Maton? We have shown that there isn't really any reason for Kjerstad to be on the roster. Could it be Mayo's time?

I could see that being a nice boost to bring him up when we start the homestand with Cleveland.  I guess it just depends on how much they want to see him at Norfolk after the injury before promoting him.

[Aristotelian]

46 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

With Westburg back in the lineup, who comes up for Maton? We have shown that there isn't really any reason for Kjerstad to be on the roster. Could it be Mayo's time?

Firestone said Mayo was days away from being promoted prior to the injury. Our futility against Cortes and Hays' strikeout last night don't hurt his case. 

[DirtyBird]

12 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Firestone said Mayo was days away from being promoted prior to the injury. Our futility against Cortes and Hays' strikeout last night don't hurt his case. 

Everybody is days from being called up when they get banged up - Grayson, Cowser, now Mayo

[Matt Bennett]

2 hours ago, DirtyBird said:

With Westburg back in the lineup, who comes up for Maton? We have shown that there isn't really any reason for Kjerstad to be on the roster. Could it be Mayo's time?

Just keep Maton up and give him 1 start a month. 

We have 4 outfielders (Mullins, Cowser, Hays, Santander) for 3 spots.

We have 4 infielders (Henderson, Westburg, Urias, Mateo) for 3 spots.

We have 2 first basemen (Mounty, O'Hearn) for 1 spot. 

And the league's best catcher that the team likes to DH on half his off-days. 

The 13th position player is redundant and that roster spot would be much better utilized as a relief pitcher. Just keep someone you don't care about in that role.