This series was a wakeup call

[Three Run Homer]

The sky is not falling, but this series reinforced some things that should have already been obvious to Elias and Hyde.

(1) We need more quality pitching.  60 percent of our starting rotation and at least half of the bullpen are shaky.  Nothing wrong with taking a couple of fliers on AAA arms, but Elias needs to aim much higher in this year's trade market than he did last year.

(2) We need to call up Coby Mayo and get him regular playing time ASAP.  We look terrible against left handed pitching.  Option Cowser or release Urias or Mateo if you must.  

(3) James McCann is playing too damn much.  He seems to play against every lefty starter, and that's because we don't have a righty bat that can platoon with O'Hearn at DH.  See point (2).  

What else?  

[LGOrioles]

1. Yeah I think that’s clear. Their core guys are largely fine. Grayson/Burnes/Kremer in the rotation (Kremer as a number 5). Webb/Cano/Perez/Kimbrel/Akin in the pen (Akin in low leverage situations). Other than that it’s pretty iffy and those fringe guys are who are getting hammered right now for the most part. Suarez is good on a per inning basis but tough to have him in the rotation when he only gives you 5 IP/start. Just move him to the pen and have him be the long man. 
 

2. They could certainly use a jolt in the lineup. The last few weeks have been really frustrating offensively but they’re still a legitimate top 5 lineup based on pretty much any actual or expected statistic. They need to be better with RISP and high leverage situations though. Some of that will probably just even out over time but some of that is approach too. 
 

3. Yeah McCann is awful and playing way too much. Their overall numbers are pretty good against LHP’s but that can be pretty touch and go any given game when you have Mateo and two black holes against LHP (Mullins/Cowser and McCann) hitting 7-8-9. I imagine Mayo getting called up will solve some of the issue there but they could still use a RHH CF and you have to hope that they start catching Rutschman more. 
 

Tough series and it’s hard to look energetic when you’re not scoring but there didn’t seem to be too much emotion one way or another, besides Irvin yelling coming off the mound after the 7th. And there were a lot of mistakes defensively that they don’t usually make. Hopefully they regroup and are better this weekend. 

[OriolesUpAndDowns]

It’s fine, Colin Selby and Burch Smith should be here soon.  

[Roy Firestone]

14 minutes ago, Three Run Homer said:

The sky is not falling, but this series reinforced some things that should have already been obvious to Elias and Hyde.

(1) We need more quality pitching.  60 percent of our starting rotation and at least half of the bullpen are shaky.  Nothing wrong with taking a couple of fliers on AAA arms, but Elias needs to aim much higher in this year's trade market than he did last year.

(2) We need to call up Coby Mayo and get him regular playing time ASAP.  We look terrible against left handed pitching.  Option Cowser or release Urias or Mateo if you must.  

(3) James McCann is playing too damn much.  He seems to play against every lefty starter, and that's because we don't have a righty bat that can platoon with O'Hearn at DH.  See point (2).  

What else?  

This team simply cant get into hitters counts...far too many first pitch swinging...tonight we had two consecutive 9 pitch innings...we dont work counts...we're too anxious cant move runners and certainly have failed with RISP...Mullins shouldn't be playing...he's a fine defender but he's hitting about .200 in the last 7 games...and has very little power...what did Kjerstad do to not get plate appearances? I mean he's hitting .319...which with enough at bats would lead the team...he's selective and has immense power...Mateo and Urias have done very little, and even Gunnar is off...especially early in the game...he strikes out a ton right off the bat...You know what I've said about Mayo....he may struggle, he's not a great defender, he is serviceable...DH/ maybe... but at least he gives us a potential power RH bat...give him a shot...our bullpen is pretty awful...and save for Burnes and Grod our starters are far too undependable..we better get some pitching at the deadline or this team will be lucky to be a wild card team...

[allquixotic]

22 minutes ago, OriolesUpAndDowns said:

It’s fine, Colin Selby and Burch Smith should be here soon.  

The ironic thing is, even if players like this had a chance to make an impact, they won't be brought up. If we can't bring up Mayo, how in the world are we going to bring up somebody like Colin Selby?

Don't pay any attention to who we have the minors, because you won't see them play in the majors this year! Management has cement bricks on the cleats of our current ML staff.

[Say O!]

Regardless of whether get more SPs or Mayo to the rescue, the offense has 4 all stars who went a collective against the cubbies:

Tues = 4-16

Weds = 3-16, 1BB

Thurs = 2-14, 1BB

Need more from Gunnar, Adley, Ant, Westy against NYY this weekend.

 

[RavensNOsGuy]

40 minutes ago, LGOrioles said:

1. Yeah I think that’s clear. Their core guys are largely fine. Grayson/Burnes/Kremer in the rotation (Kremer as a number 5). Webb/Cano/Perez/Kimbrel/Akin in the pen (Akin in low leverage situations). Other than that it’s pretty iffy and those fringe guys are who are getting hammered right now for the most part. Suarez is good on a per inning basis but tough to have him in the rotation when he only gives you 5 IP/start. Just move him to the pen and have him be the long man. 
 

2. They could certainly use a jolt in the lineup. The last few weeks have been really frustrating offensively but they’re still a legitimate top 5 lineup based on pretty much any actual or expected statistic. They need to be better with RISP and high leverage situations though. Some of that will probably just even out over time but some of that is approach too. 
 

3. Yeah McCann is awful and playing way too much. Their overall numbers are pretty good against LHP’s but that can be pretty touch and go any given game when you have Mateo and two black holes against LHP (Mullins/Cowser and McCann) hitting 7-8-9. I imagine Mayo getting called up will solve some of the issue there but they could still use a RHH CF and you have to hope that they start catching Rutschman more. 
 

Tough series and it’s hard to look energetic when you’re not scoring but there didn’t seem to be too much emotion one way or another, besides Irvin yelling coming off the mound after the 7th. And there were a lot of mistakes defensively that they don’t usually make. Hopefully they regroup and are better this weekend. 

McCann seems like a great dude but it’s shocking to me this was the plan this year to play him so much. It makes zero sense. If they wanted to get Adley more days off why the hell didn’t they try to find someone else as a platoon guy. Lenny Webster would be an upgrade over this nonsense.

[baltimoriole]

I’ve seen this movie before. When I was younger, had a gleam in my eye, a head full of hair, and youthful ambition. All the way back in 2005. A great year. A great start. A tragic meltdown.

[Aristotelian]

I don't really have an issue with McCann playing. As long as we're ahead in the division, keeping Adley fresh is a very important priority. 

Yes to everything else. Hopefully the trade deadline fixes a lot the pitching. We need to find a way to get Mayo's bat in the lineup against lefties at least. If you want to keep Cowser, you could also option Mountcastle or Hays.

[Malike]

2 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

I don't really have an issue with McCann playing. As long as we're ahead in the division, keeping Adley fresh is a very important priority. 

Yes to everything else. Hopefully the trade deadline fixes a lot the pitching. We need to find a way to get Mayo's bat in the lineup against lefties at least. If you want to keep Cowser, you could also option Mountcastle or Hays.

I doubt the plan is to get rid of one RHB for another. We need more than we have now.

[G54377]

12 minutes ago, baltimoriole said:

I’ve seen this movie before. When I was younger, had a gleam in my eye, a head full of hair, and youthful ambition. All the way back in 2005. A great year. A great start. A tragic meltdown.

If this season ends like that I'm not sure I would ever be able to watch baseball again (and like most I fully knew the 2005 collapse was coming every step of the way)

[Aristotelian]

4 minutes ago, Malike said:

I doubt the plan is to get rid of one RHB for another. We need more than we have now.

So you're saying he would replace Cowser? What position would he play? Mayo has played zero OF. Seems like he has to replace a RHB: Urias or Mateo if he comes up to play 3B, Mountcastle to play 1B.

[Malike]

Just now, Aristotelian said:

So you're saying he would replace Cowser? What position would he play? Mayo has played zero OF. Seems like he has to replace a RHB: Urias or Mateo if he comes up to play 3B, Mountcastle to play 1B.

I would assume he would play 3B with Westburg at 2B. Urias and Mateo to the bench and one of Kjerstad or Cowser to AAA for a bit. He's probably not coming up until August and we don't even know who is still going to be with the team after the trade deadline.

[Aristotelian]

8 minutes ago, Malike said:

I would assume he would play 3B with Westburg at 2B. Urias and Mateo to the bench and one of Kjerstad or Cowser to AAA for a bit. He's probably not coming up until August and we don't even know who is still going to be with the team after the trade deadline.

How is that preferable to simply replacing Urias?

[Tbone83]

Mateo would be a perfect fit for the 05 team, because he has the 05 season EVERY year at the plate.

But seriously, I am getting a bit antsy waiting for the front office to make some changes. As much as I love the "old guard" (Hays, Mullins, Urias, Mateo, Moutcastle) as humans, I'm at about the end of my rope watching them scuffle while young talent is sitting in Norfolk.

As far as pitching, I REALLY wish the front office could have addressed the pen more over the winter. Because I have no idea how they are now going to fix it AND the starting pitching without getting fleeced for prospects.

Overall the team is so hot/warm/cold/hot/cold that I feel like the playoffs are going to be a crapshoot at this point. If the Cardnials/Cubs series Orioles show up the get swept in the divisional again. If the Mid-June Orioles show up, they could win it all. 

All that said, we aren't even halfway there yet so who knows.