Jump to content

I would not pick up O'Hearn 8m option

wildcard

By wildcard
in Orioles Talk

 Share

Recommended Posts

ThomasTomasz Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

ThomasTomasz

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

The problem isn’t the $7.5 million for O’Hearn. The problem is a manager that feels the need for O’Hearn to be in the lineup every single game where we face a RHP, regardless of how he is performing.

Even in a summer where we had, checks notes, Westburg, Urias, Mateo and Mountcastle all on Injured Reserve (an entire starting infield, mind you, I think a lot of teams would be happy to have all four of those guys starting for them), O’Hearn only received 44 total PAs against left-handers, compared to 29 in 2023. 

They absolutely try to limit him against LHP, but with those four injured during most of August/September, in the worlds of Hulk Hogan, what’cha gonna do?  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wildcard Hangout Grand Counsel

wildcard

Posted
  • Author
Posted
48 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I want to immediately say, what does it say about Rubenstein that Santa won’t be our RF?

But…

I’m not sure giving Santa 150m is a good move. That Soto guy would be nice. Haha

Maybe you should be a Yankee fan.   They could have Soto and Santander next year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wildcard Hangout Grand Counsel

wildcard

Posted
  • Author
Posted
1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

Move Adley and his ailing back to first base. Get rid of Mounty, get rid of O’Hearn.  Our 26 year old leader is already in the back half of his career from a physical perspective.

I don’t care what happens to Mayo. Sorry, Roy. Tired of trying to fit in guys who haven’t earned anything. 

Or they could just let Adley get healthy again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wildcard Hangout Grand Counsel

wildcard

Posted
  • Author
Posted
40 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

The problem isn’t the $7.5 million for O’Hearn. The problem is a manager that feels the need for O’Hearn to be in the lineup every single game where we face a RHP, regardless of how he is performing.

It's an 8m option because of a 500K bonus for games played.   And he played more because Mountcastle was hurt.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LGOrioles Major Leaguer

LGOrioles

Posted
Posted

I think the team will benefit from potentially no Mountcastle and Santander, two hitters with extreme chase tendencies. O’Hearn’s chase and whiff rates are both some of the best on the team, which they need more of not less. He wasn’t as good in the 2nd half, but is still a valuable piece against RHP’s (123 wRC+ with a low .278 BABIP) that can play 1B or the OF as a last resort. He only had 3 PA’s in the playoffs and they were all good. 

The only problem I see with O’Hearn is that he is LH and the fact that they are going to be so LH heavy next year (Gunnar, Cowser, Mullins, Holliday, Kjerstad). Then Rutschman is obviously a switch hitter. O’Hearn’s skill set is needed (especially considering they are likely integrating 3 batters in Holliday, Kjerstad, and Mayo who collectively had atrocious whiff rates) but they also need good RH bats or they are going to be toast against LHP’s. Maybe they keep Mountcastle instead of O’Hearn, but he is who he is at this point and is worse than O’Hearn. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wildcard Hangout Grand Counsel

wildcard

Posted
  • Author
Posted
55 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

It’s a borderline call.

Mayo is the first baseman next year imo.  But you should have another one on the roster, at least until Basallo is up.

Are you going to get someone who is as good and cheaper than OHearn?  OTOH, how good is he actually? 
 

 

Mayo has not played 1B everyday in the minors.   He needs that to be a better 1B.   I would start him in AAA next year as the starting 1B.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
casadeozo Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

casadeozo

Posted
Posted
55 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I want to immediately say, what does it say about Rubenstein that Santa won’t be our RF?

But…

I’m not sure giving Santa 150m is a good move. That Soto guy would be nice. Haha

Not to be dismissed with letting Tony walk in free agency, this Santa nickname no one asked for goes with him. That’s gotta be reason enough to let him walk.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sports Guy Hangout Grand Counsel

Sports Guy

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, wildcard said:

Mayo has not played 1B everyday in the minors.   He needs that to be a better 1B.   I would start him in AAA next year as the starting 1B.

Thats what the offseason is for. He has nothing left to prove in AAA. Put in the work in the offseason.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wildcard Hangout Grand Counsel

wildcard

Posted
  • Author
Posted
9 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Thats what the offseason is for. He has nothing left to prove in AAA. Put in the work in the offseason.

Mayo has nothing to prove at AAA has a hitter.   But he has a lot to prove as a defensive 1B.  He needs to do that in games.   ST will be a test for Mayo at 1B.    But the O's have to have other players in place in case Mayo is not ready defensively.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sports Guy Hangout Grand Counsel

Sports Guy

Posted
Posted
Just now, wildcard said:

Mayo has nothing to prove at AAA has a hitter.   But he has a lot to prove as a defensive 1B.  He needs to do that in games.   ST will be a test for Mayo at 1B.    But the O's have to have other players in place in case Mayo is not ready defensively.

No he doesn’t need to do it in games. Thats an absurd take heading into the offseason. He needs to spend all of his time on 3 things:

1) first base defense

2) RF defense 

3) getting some of the uppercut out of his swing and leveling it out more.

He has 4.5 months to do those things heading into ST.  That should be his focus. 
 

 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
wildcard Hangout Grand Counsel

wildcard

Posted
  • Author
Posted
17 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

No he doesn’t need to do it in games. Thats an absurd take heading into the offseason. He needs to spend all of his time on 3 things:

1) first base defense

2) RF defense 

3) getting some of the uppercut out of his swing and leveling it out more.

He has 4.5 months to do those things heading into ST.  That should be his focus. 
 

 

I am pretty sure that Elias is not going to start Kjerstad in RF, Holliday at 2B and Mayo at 1B at the start of the season.     Kjerstad in RF is likely if Santander is gone.   I think Holliday and Mayo wait their turn.  To many struggling prospects at the same time is not good for wins.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sports Guy Hangout Grand Counsel

Sports Guy

Posted
Posted
30 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I am pretty sure that Elias is not going to start Kjerstad in RF, Holliday at 2B and Mayo at 1B at the start of the season.     Kjerstad in RF is likely if Santander is gone.   I think Holliday and Mayo wait their turn.  To many struggling prospects at the same time is not good for wins.

I think you have done a poor job of paying attention if you think these things are true but really, I don’t have the energy to go back and forth with you and your ridiculous conspiracy theories and your “well I think” narratives.

If you think they are going to block the elite prospects they have been angling to play for a while, fine.  You can keep thinking that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Posts

    • Hank Scorpio
      Where are the pollyannas?

      By Hank Scorpio · Posted

      I too was *this* pissed off yesterday. I'm sympathetic. But the reality of the situation is that Kansas City played out of their minds defensively and baseball happened.  Now, this was a microcosm of the second half of the season and that's just a fact. They dealt with injuries, just like every team does... they just didn't deal with them very effectively. I'm not sure if casting blame upon the hitting coaches or Hyde really holds any water for me. But I understand the desire for a scapegoat. It was REALLY hard to watch batter after batter trying to hit a 13 run home run on pitches that weren't really all that close to the strike zone. They were way out of their lanes and it was patently obvious that panic was setting in. I felt like it was a basketball game and Hyde needed to call a timeout or something. Like they needed to be snapped out of it or something, maybe by something drastic like, oh, putting Jackson Holliday in there for an at bat in an important spot.  They hit a lot of balls at guys, they swung at bunch of BS repeatedly. I saw it from Mountcastle, Santander, Henderson, Cowser (embarrassingly so), McCann during game 1, Rutschman too.  The only thing I could maybe blame Hyde for is not successfully alleviating the panic. Baseball's different though... I'm just a slapdick fan, I have no idea what the realities of his job are. But that lineup needed to find a way to relax and the further the game went the more they freaked out. It was the opposite of a loose dugout. It was fear, panic and foreboding doom. Is it even possible to snap that group out of it? I dunno. The veterans were the ones (other than Mullins) that were pressing the most. I think I would have found a way to get Holliday or Kjerstad some meaningful at bats. Yeah, maybe that's Monday morning quarterbacking. Maybe they would have reacted the same way the rest of them did.  They couldn't have been worse...  
    • Grt 2BA FL Gator
      Wait Till Next Year

      By Grt 2BA FL Gator · Posted

      Ok I’m changing this a little. Don’t know O’Hearn is worth the 8 mil.. Maybe we can replace. I’m actually pretty juiced at the potential of this and all of these guys are overdue for regular ABs together.    CF Mullins 3B Westburg C Adley SS Gunnar LF Cowser DH O’hearn/Mayo 1B Mountcastle  RF Kjerstad 2B Holliday Util: Mayo (regular DH platoon, spot starts in the field, Mateo (speed/defense)  
    • baltfan
      Orioles Cannot be Complacent -- Look at History

      By baltfan · Posted

      Honestly, they need to fix the right field wall too.  It is too ridiculous and screws with the right-handed hitters.  Move it in 10 feet and lower it a bit.
    • LookitsPuck
      The Royals

      By LookitsPuck · Posted

      I said it before, and I'll say it again. This Royals team is entirely a function of their starting pitching (Ragans, Lugo, Wacha, Singer) and their recent BP arm pickups/conversions (Erceg, Bubic, Lynch, etc.). Their offense is basically Witt, Pasq, and Perez. I was pretty confident that the O's could shut them down going into this series, and they did. They only scored 3 runs. And none of their run scoring hits were all that amazing...if at all. The issue, of course, was the offense. Was that because of the pitching? Personally I thought Ragans looked hittable. He pitched better than Lugo, but the O's came up tiny in RISP situations. Same as yesterday. Ragans and Lugo mostly pitched out of the zone, and the O's just were aggressive. So, in this regard, give the credit to the Royals scouts and analytics teams. They knew exactly how to pitch to Santander: up, up, up. They knew exactly how to pitch to Cowser: low changeups. They knew exactly how to pitch to everybody not named Cedric Mullins. This Royals club is half decent, and if this O's club was the 2023 team, they shellack them. Alas, here we are. Think the Yankees are going to railroad these guys if they aren't rusty. 
    • Can_of_corn
      Colton Cowser 2024

      By Can_of_corn · Posted

      He was developed according to the Orioles'  development plan.
    • Moose Milligan
      Ryan Mountcastle 2024

      By Moose Milligan · Posted

      Ryan Mountcastle avoiding getting hit in his dick with a pitch while trying to hold up his swing was infuriating.  
    • Sports Guy
      Orioles Cannot be Complacent -- Look at History

      By Sports Guy · Posted

      For the most part, no. The biggest thing a manager does is the culture they set and what they do off the field.  By all accounts, the players like Hyde, the culture is good and the team is happy with him. Now, if there is something there that we don’t know about, by all means make the change. However,  if every report is true, I see no reason to make a change. That’s making a change just to make a change. I would rather focus on the on field than assume some ceremonial change at manager is going to matter. Its been studied and we have talked about it a lot but in game strategy is so similar that its really only a game or two in terms of “manager WAR”.  

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...