Meoli on the 1st base situation

[Sports Guy]

4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Well, first of all, I don’t think you get rid of OHearn and Mounty, so one of them gets time.

You also make sure Kjerstad keeps working at first base all offseason and ST.  And you have AAA guys like a Garrett Cooper.  And, in season long term, you potentially can turn to Basallo.

There is absolutely no intelligent reason to spend other money/waste roster spot on a first baseman. You have 2 on the team to start the year, another potential back up on the roster (and that doesn’t even include Urias btw) and you have your MiL options.

And btw, I guess if there is another OHearn out there..IE an under the radar guy the Orioles think is a lot better than his stats, I guess you could lose both of those guys.

In other words, if an inexpensive option exists as the second first baseman and you think they can be a LH platoon option, that’s fine too.  I don’t know if that guy exists, so I don’t get rid of both of these guys but if that player does, just saying that could be an option too if you wanted to save the money.

[Pickles]

5 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Well, first of all, I don’t think you get rid of OHearn and Mounty, so one of them gets time.

You also make sure Kjerstad keeps working at first base all offseason and ST.  And you have AAA guys like a Garrett Cooper.  And, in season long term, you potentially can turn to Basallo.

There is absolutely no intelligent reason to spend other money/waste roster spot on a first baseman. You have 2 on the team to start the year, another potential back up on the roster (and that doesn’t even include Urias btw) and you have your MiL options.

I'm not advocating bringing in anybody.  I agree with you that is completely unnecessary.

What I'm saying, is if you trade Mountcastle and let Santander walk, you've just penciled Mayo into 500+ PAs, almost regardless of what he does.

It's similar to what we saw last offseaonw where it was get rid of Urias and Mateo; we've got Holliday.  We can't block Holliday.

And then we all saw by September, we were a much better team with Urias and/or Mateo playing than Holliday playing.  And when he was forced to play we suffered for it.

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Pickles said:

I'm not advocating bringing in anybody.  I agree with you that is completely unnecessary.

What I'm saying, is if you trade Mountcastle and let Santander walk, you've just penciled Mayo into 500+ PAs, almost regardless of what he does.

It's similar to what we saw last offseaonw where it was get rid of Urias and Mateo; we've got Holliday.  We can't block Holliday.

And then we all saw by September, we were a much better team with Urias and/or Mateo playing than Holliday playing.  And when he was forced to play we suffered for it.

We didn’t suffer because of one position.  We suffered because of several positions having that issue.

Oswaldo Cabrera is getting important first base time in October for the Yankees…he had a sub 300 OBP and a 661 OPS this year.

You can get by with that.

And there is really no long term reason to believe Mayo can’t be good enough to play.  He has dominated the minors at younger ages for the league every step of the way. Those guys usually perform. 

[Aristotelian]

3 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I'm not advocating bringing in anybody.  I agree with you that is completely unnecessary.

What I'm saying, is if you trade Mountcastle and let Santander walk, you've just penciled Mayo into 500+ PAs, almost regardless of what he does.

It's similar to what we saw last offseaonw where it was get rid of Urias and Mateo; we've got Holliday.  We can't block Holliday.

And then we all saw by September, we were a much better team with Urias and/or Mateo playing than Holliday playing.  And when he was forced to play we suffered for it.

I don't think it's quite that bad. If we were to go all in on Mayo 1B and it goes badly, you would still have the waiver wire, trade deadline, and AAA guys as options. Torkelson got 340 AB's his rookie year and Mayo does not even have that kind of pedigree to entitle him to playing time. That being said, committing fully to both Holliday and Mayo scares the crap out of me. 

[Pickles]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

We didn’t suffer because of one position.  We suffered because of several positions having that issue.

Oswaldo Cabrera is getting important first base time in October for the Yankees…he had a sub 300 OBP and a 661 OPS this year.

You can get by with that.

And there is really no long term reason to believe Mayo can’t be good enough to play.  He has dominated the minors at younger ages for the league every step of the way. Those guys usually perform. 

No, Holliday wasn't the only guy struggling but that doesn't forgive his struggles.  The fact is, we were better off with Holliday on the bench, and Urias, or Mateo (if he had been healthy) playing.  To think that couldn't repeat itself this upcoming year with Mountcastle/O'Hearn  and Mayo is short-sighted.

Again, if you trade Mountcastle and Santander walks, you are basically handing a full time role to Mayo- unless you bring someone in from outside the organization to take ABs from him, which I don't believe anyone is advocating.

[Pickles]

5 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

I don't think it's quite that bad. If we were to go all in on Mayo 1B and it goes badly, you would still have the waiver wire, trade deadline, and AAA guys as options. Torkelson got 340 AB's his rookie year and Mayo does not even have that kind of pedigree to entitle him to playing time. That being said, committing fully to both Holliday and Mayo scares the crap out of me. 

I'm one of the most conservative posters on the board when it comes to this kind of thing.

But as of now, I'd bring back Mountcastle and O'Hearn, Kjerstad would basically be inline for every day at bats, and Mayo and Holliday would be battling it out for the 13th man on the roster, and a platoon role to start the season.

[Sports Guy]

6 minutes ago, Pickles said:

No, Holliday wasn't the only guy struggling but that doesn't forgive his struggles.  The fact is, we were better off with Holliday on the bench, and Urias, or Mateo (if he had been healthy) playing.  To think that couldn't repeat itself this upcoming year with Mountcastle/O'Hearn  and Mayo is short-sighted.

Again, if you trade Mountcastle and Santander walks, you are basically handing a full time role to Mayo- unless you bring someone in from outside the organization to take ABs from him, which I don't believe anyone is advocating.

I’m not basically handing him the full time role..I am handing it to him…and that is exactly what the team should be doing.

But you do have fall back options if it doesn’t work.

Unless he is traded, any plan that doesn’t have him on the OD roster with the thought he is a 500+ at bat guy, is an awful plan.

[Pickles]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I’m not basically handing him the full time role..I am handing it to him…and that is exactly what the team should be doing.

But you do have fall back options if it doesn’t work.

Unless he is traded, any plan that doesn’t have him on the OD roster with the thought he is a 500+ at bat guy, is an awful plan.

So why did you argue with me when I said people were in favor of handing Mayo a full-time role?  LOL.

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, Pickles said:

So why did you argue with me when I said people were in favor of handing Mayo a full-time role?  LOL.

No, you said 700 at bats. 700 at bats is playing every game. 

Zero people are advocating for that.

 

[Pickles]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

No, you said 700 at bats. 700 at bats is playing every game. 

Zero people are advocating for that.

 

Handing him a full-time role doesn't equal playing every day?  LOL.

That's a distinction without a difference.

[LookitsPuck]

Players with ~450 AB and above:

• Gunnar - 719
• Santander - 665
• Adley - 638
• Cowser - 561
• Mountcastle - 507
• Mullins - 499
• O'Hearn - 494
• Westburg - 447

Closest after Westy is Ramon with around 300. 

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Pickles said:

Handing him a full-time role doesn't equal playing every day?  LOL.

That's a distinction without a difference.

If you play 70-80% of the the games, that’s a full time role.  Are you actually disputing that?

[Pickles]

4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

If you play 70-80% of the the games, that’s a full time role.  Are you actually disputing that?

And I'm saying that is 570 ABs, and to act if that is some real difference from what I said about 700 abs is a semantic distinction without a truly practical difference.

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Pickles said:

And I'm saying that is 570 ABs, and to act if that is some real difference from what I said about 700 abs is a semantic distinction without a truly practical difference.

It’s 120-135 games.  
 

Thats 500ish at bats, give or take.  It will be more if he plays well and less if he doesn’t.

That’s a full time player but not an every single day player.  You talked about him as an every single day player.  No one is saying that. You can keep trying to talk yourself out of it but you’re beginning statement is a straw man.

Now, if you actually want to argue what people are saying, that’s fine.  I saw your plan and idea. I think it’s awful. If you aren’t going into this season with the thought he’s your everyday first baseman and you are going to keep mediocre, middling players on the roster over him and block him, you should look to trade him for a cost controlled player at another position. Having him be in the minors for most of 2025 is a terrible plan.

[Pickles]

20 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

It’s 120-135 games.  
 

Thats 500ish at bats, give or take.  It will be more if he plays well and less if he doesn’t.

That’s a full time player but not an every single day player.  You talked about him as an every single day player.  No one is saying that. You can keep trying to talk yourself out of it but you’re beginning statement is a straw man.

Now, if you actually want to argue what people are saying, that’s fine.  I saw your plan and idea. I think it’s awful. If you aren’t going into this season with the thought he’s your everyday first baseman and you are going to keep mediocre, middling players on the roster over him and block him, you should look to trade him for a cost controlled player at another position. Having him be in the minors for most of 2025 is a terrible plan.

But does it really change the fact of the matter if I said 600f abs (which is what 135 games is) instead of 700?  No, it's just a pointless diversion.

The fact still remains if you clear out a spot for the guy to hand him those ABs, and he falls on his face, which is a very real possibility, you have severely hurt your chances of winning the division/making the playoffs.

Did you or did you not say the exact same thing regarding Holliday and Urias/Mateo last off-season?  And would it have not severely hurt the O's chances of making the playoffs if they had done that?