Lately, the offense really DOES suck

[Sports Guy]

40 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

192 BABIP in since last Saturday. Easily the worst in MLB.

 

Since the start of the Mets series….

Santander and Mounty sub 600 OPS

Gunnar and Adley sub 500 OPS

Holliday and OHearn sub 250 OPS

Kind of amazing they won 3 of those 7 games and were right there to win several of the other games.

[LookitsPuck]

Think the issue is as follows: most of the bullpen is situationally and nearly all of them are average/above average arms but none of them are elite. Which means every few games you’ll get a blowup and/or allowing 1-2 runs.

The defense is inconsistent which means you’ll have teams scratch out a run or 2 off of them.

The starting pitching has been either very good for a couple games or very bad. Which means half the time you need your bats to claw you out.

The hitting is terrible against lefties. They’ve faced a lot of them lately. But they also faced 2 righties against the Astros and looked lifeless against them.

This is the issue. It’s a mediocre club. They can barely scrape together 2 out of 4 of the qualities above any given game. They needed late inning heroics both wins against the Astros otherwise they looked completely lifeless. 

This is not a good team any longer. They are average. 

Edited August 26 by LookitsPuck

[Too Tall]

Adley is either hurt or turning into a pumpkin, Gunnar is scuffling. Monty, Mullins and O'Hear are either hurt or inconsistent, Santander is either a home run or nothing (I think Ben said that Tony has like 16 hits in August and 8 have been home runs), Cowser is Cowser still adjusting, Holliday is learning. Each have a ways to go to be labeled offensively consistent. The rest are not going to carry anything. Some games like last night, watching our offense is like watching clothes hand in the closet. Only Sneaky Pop shook the wardrobe. Frustrating for a fan. Question is - is this (and last night was just a sample) a team slump or indicative of a more systemic problem beyond injuries? Time will tell.

[clapdiddy]

3 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

Think the issue is as follows: most of the bullpen is situationally and nearly all of them are average/above average arms but none of them are elite. Which means every few games you’ll get a blowup and/or allowing 1-2 runs.

The defense is inconsistent which means you’ll have teams scratch out a run or 2 off of them.

The starting pitching has been either very good for a couple games or very bad. Which means half the time you need your bats to claw you out.

The hitting is terrible against lefties. They’ve faced a lot of them lately. But they also faced 2 righties against the Astros and looked lifeless against them.

This is the issue. It’s a mediocre club. They can barely scrape together 2 out of 4 of the qualities above any given game. They needed late inning heroics both wins against the Astros otherwise they looked completely lifeless. 

This is not a good team any longer. They are average. 

Yup...they are 18-18 in the second half of the season.   The definition of "average".

[Sports Guy]

11 minutes ago, Too Tall said:

Adley is either hurt or turning into a pumpkin, Gunnar is scuffling. Monty, Mullins and O'Hear are either hurt or inconsistent, Santander is either a home run or nothing (I think Ben said that Tony has like 16 hits in August and 8 have been home runs), Cowser is Cowser still adjusting, Holliday is learning. Each have a ways to go to be labeled offensively consistent. The rest are not going to carry anything. Some games like last night, watching our offense is like watching clothes hand in the closet. Only Sneaky Pop shook the wardrobe. Frustrating for a fan. Question is - is this (and last night was just a sample) a team slump or indicative of a more systemic problem beyond injuries? Time will tell.

When you have a 192 BABIP over a 7 game span, that’s bad luck. 
 

Trying to come up with conclusions and narratives based off of that is really a waste of time. 

[Too Tall]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

When you have a 192 BABIP over a 7 game span, that’s bad luck. 
 

Trying to come up with conclusions and narratives based off of that is really a waste of time. 

Which is why I said, "Time will tell." And, the offense, as has been talked about ad nausium on here, has been less than stellar/inconsistent since early July.

[Just Regular]

If the days are counted very close, we could I think play Coby Mayo some of the Coors Field series too and limbo at or under 45 active roster days.

I think for SIGBOT it is an easy slam dunk to give Emmanuel Rivera a week to conserve the shot 600 plate appearances from Coby Mayo in 2025 wins the Club an asset for another Griff O'Ferrall or Jordan Westburg type.

[Orioles0615]

59 minutes ago, clapdiddy said:

What is a "gutting" coach?   

oops phone typo

[Gunnar]

At this point I'm just hoping they can win a game or two in the postseason, that would be improvement over last year at least.

[interloper]

Adley looks like he's a million miles away right now. What in the world is going on with our boy? He's just swinging at whatever and trudging back to the dugout expressionless. 

It's a stunning fall for Adley over the last 2+ months and Hyde doesn't even get asked about it. This is not a normal slump. Something is wrong. 

[Tony-OH]

10 hours ago, Three Run Homer said:

Over the last 7 games:  .182/.251/.332/.583.

Their batting average over the last week has been last in baseball, and their OPS and OBP have been 29th out of 30.

They are lucky to have only gone 3-4 during the past week.  

Really lucky to be 3-4 this past week. Easily could have gone 1-6 if not for the Santander slam and the Holliday pinch hit 2B.

The offense has certainly been putrid and someone needs to step up. Over the last ten days:

Gunnar (.719) has been below his norm and his .319 OBP over the last days is nothing to write home about

Adley (.512 OPS), Santander (.566), Mountcastle (.559), Holliday (.461), Jimenez (.444) and O'Hearn (.285 OPS) have all been terrible.

When a team is batting Austin Slater lead off, it has problems. 

And good Lord, while he can have some professional at bats, Jimenez is a slow, DH who hits a lot of balls on the ground has no play on a championship team.

  

[Brooks The Great]

2 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Really lucky to be 3-4 this past week. Easily could have gone 1-6 if not for the Santander slam and the Holliday pinch hit 2B.

The offense has certainly been putrid and someone needs to step up. Over the last ten days:

Gunnar (.719) has been below his norm and his .319 OBP over the last days is nothing to write home about

Adley (.512 OPS), Santander (.566), Mountcastle (.559), Holliday (.461), Jimenez (.444) and O'Hearn (.285 OPS) have all been terrible.

When a team is batting Austin Slater lead off, it has problems. 

And good Lord, while he can have some professional at bats, Jimenez is a slow, DH who hits a lot of balls on the ground has no play on a championship team.

  

Eloy needs to be released and Mayo needs to be called back up to DH, preferably every day. The fact Elias sent Rogers to the minors - a move which was a susprising admission of guilt by Elias for the terrible trade he made - gives me hope that Elias will do the right thing with Eloy as well. Eloy is an even more obviously terrible player than Rogers was, the only difference is that Eloy had a short sample size lucky streak his first week with the O's. Ryan O'Hearn, meanwhile, hasn't hit a home run in over a month, and this is the second straight year that he's declined considerably in the second half. It's a good time to move on from O'Hearn as well and plant him on the bench as depth. 

One of Elias's major faults as a GM - and this season has shown that he has quite a few - is that he consistently blocks his own elite prospects with veterans to the detriment of the prospects and the major league team's ceiling. Frazier, Mateo, and Urias blocked Westburg and Ortiz last season, and Mateo blocked Norby this season. Meanwhile, O'Hearn has blocked Kjerstad, Norby, and Mayo this season at the DH spot. That's unacceptable player development and roster management, and the opportunity cost of playing mediocre players like Odor, Frazier, Mateo, Urias, and Hicks is something that has hurt the Orioles in 2023 and 2024 in ways that most people don't yet realize.

O'Hearn is a better player than any of the aformentioned waiver wire fodder, but ultimately bringing him back and having him take up all the DH at bats against right-handed SPs was the incorrect decision. DH would have been better used giving at bats to Norby (who should have made the team Opening Day), Kjerstad, and Mayo. The tradeoff of an .800 OPS (at best) platoon guy with a good approach at the plate instead of prospects with higher ceilings (affording those prospects playing time that would have acclimated them better for the postseason in 2024 as well as 2025 and beyond) wasn't worth it. 

[Safelykept]

18 minutes ago, Brooks The Great said:

Eloy needs to be released and Mayo needs to be called back up to DH, preferably every day. The fact Elias sent Rogers to the minors - a move which was a susprising admission of guilt by Elias for the terrible trade he made - gives me hope that Elias will do the right thing with Eloy as well. Eloy is an even more obviously terrible player than Rogers was, the only difference is that Eloy had a short sample size lucky streak his first week with the O's. Ryan O'Hearn, meanwhile, hasn't hit a home run in over a month, and this is the second straight year that he's declined considerably in the second half. It's a good time to move on from O'Hearn as well and plant him on the bench as depth. 

One of Elias's major faults as a GM - and this season has shown that he has quite a few - is that he consistently blocks his own elite prospects with veterans to the detriment of the prospects and the major league team's ceiling. Frazier, Mateo, and Urias blocked Westburg and Ortiz last season, and Mateo blocked Norby this season. Meanwhile, O'Hearn has blocked Kjerstad, Norby, and Mayo this season at the DH spot. That's unacceptable player development and roster management, and the opportunity cost of playing mediocre players like Odor, Frazier, Mateo, Urias, and Hicks is something that has hurt the Orioles in 2023 and 2024 in ways that most people don't yet realize.

O'Hearn is a better player than any of the aformentioned waiver wire fodder, but ultimately bringing him back and having him take up all the DH at bats against right-handed SPs was the incorrect decision. DH would have been better used giving at bats to Norby (who should have made the team Opening Day), Kjerstad, and Mayo. The tradeoff of an .800 OPS (at best) platoon guy with a good approach at the plate instead of prospects with higher ceilings (affording those prospects playing time that would have acclimated them better for the postseason in 2024 as well as 2025 and beyond) wasn't worth it. 

where does Norby play with Jackson at 2nd? You said DH, what about RMC or Adley? you also say Kjerstad (Some Defense) but DH and Mayo no position DH only. To many DH's. You will see Mayo back up when rosters expand and they can game his service.

[Tony-OH]

3 minutes ago, Safelykept said:

where does Norby play with Jackson at 2nd? You said DH, what about RMC or Adley? you also say Kjerstad (Some Defense) but DH and Mayo no position DH only. To many DH's. You will see Mayo back up when rosters expand and they can game his service.

Maybe the Orioles should have spent more time trying to develop Norby as a third baseman vs a 2B where he was never going to have the range or ability to turn the DP well enough to be good at the major league level.

The "vaunted" Orioles minor league system under blood did some weird things and have kept guys at positions where it was clear they would never be effective at.

Kind of like Mayo. Why is not spending he majority of his time at 1B or RF? Westburg is going to be the 2B and Holliday the 2B. Why are they wasting reps at 3B where his throwing accuracy is a problem still?

[Sanity Check]

29 minutes ago, Brooks The Great said:

Eloy needs to be released and Mayo needs to be called back up to DH, preferably every day. The fact Elias sent Rogers to the minors - a move which was a susprising admission of guilt by Elias for the terrible trade he made - gives me hope that Elias will do the right thing with Eloy as well. Eloy is an even more obviously terrible player than Rogers was, the only difference is that Eloy had a short sample size lucky streak his first week with the O's. Ryan O'Hearn, meanwhile, hasn't hit a home run in over a month, and this is the second straight year that he's declined considerably in the second half. It's a good time to move on from O'Hearn as well and plant him on the bench as depth. 

One of Elias's major faults as a GM - and this season has shown that he has quite a few - is that he consistently blocks his own elite prospects with veterans to the detriment of the prospects and the major league team's ceiling. Frazier, Mateo, and Urias blocked Westburg and Ortiz last season, and Mateo blocked Norby this season. Meanwhile, O'Hearn has blocked Kjerstad, Norby, and Mayo this season at the DH spot. That's unacceptable player development and roster management, and the opportunity cost of playing mediocre players like Odor, Frazier, Mateo, Urias, and Hicks is something that has hurt the Orioles in 2023 and 2024 in ways that most people don't yet realize.

O'Hearn is a better player than any of the aformentioned waiver wire fodder, but ultimately bringing him back and having him take up all the DH at bats against right-handed SPs was the incorrect decision. DH would have been better used giving at bats to Norby (who should have made the team Opening Day), Kjerstad, and Mayo. The tradeoff of an .800 OPS (at best) platoon guy with a good approach at the plate instead of prospects with higher ceilings (affording those prospects playing time that would have acclimated them better for the postseason in 2024 as well as 2025 and beyond) wasn't worth it. 

Give me a break, so we need Mayo in the lineup to satisfy your desire to see that?  Did you notice he was mostly overmatched with major league pitching, barely sniffing a hit and striking out 10 times in 17 at bats?  

Since being acquired, Eloy is batting .304 with just 12 strikeouts in 56 at bats.  And you think that's the problem?  Really?