Fio is rushing for a callup

[wildcard]

With a 1.000 OPS in the last month Jeff is showing that he is still a prospect and should get the call after the Bowie season is over. Flanagan calling him up too early several years ago hurts his option status. However if the O's keep him on the roster he will not be eligible for the Rule 5 draft. The O's will just have to figure out what to do when he is out of options next spring.

[McLovin]

The O's will just have to figure out what to do when he is out of options next spring.

The will DFA him and he will pass through waivers no problem. If he's not good enough to make our team, he's not going to be good enough to make anybody's.

[DrungoHazewood]

Fiorentino isn't a prospect anymore, but he has extreme enough L/R splits that he might yet turn into a poor man's John Lowenstein. Nearly 1000 AA at bats with a sub-.800 OPS, and 24 years old, means he's been demoted to "possible useful piece for a few years."

If they can't bribe/extort/trick/drug/threaten another GM into taking Jay Payton off their hands, I guess they could do worse than a Fiorentino/Payton platoon in left. Wouldn't set the world on fire, but preferable to just throwing Payton out there again. Maybe some rotating combination of Payton, Patterson, Fiorentino, and Reimold would be a relatively cheap CF/LF with some defense, some offense, and some upside.

[Frobby]

In addition to his extreme R/L splits, Fio has demonstrated for 3 straight years that he is an extremely slow starter. His .785 OPS repeating AA is not impressive, but when you consider that his OPS stood at .460 at the end of April, .785 looks pretty darned good.

In 2005, Fio had that ridiculous early call-up from Frederick to the majors and then really struggled when he went back down, got red hot in July and finished very strong. Most people (including me) attributed his rocky first half to the disruption caused by his call-up.

In 2006, Fio had foot and leg injuries that caused him to miss significant time in April and May and appeared to hamper him when he played. Once again, he got very hot in July and August, so people (including me) attributed his rocky start to his injuries.

Well, there are no such justifications in 2007. He started slowly, period. Now he is making up for lost time, but his final numbers just aren't going to be that impressive after such a slow start.

I think Fio might be a useful platoon player in 2008, but at this point I'd start him at Norfolk to avoid a situation where he's in the majors and hitting .500 OPS in mid-May. Let him prove he's hot vs. AAA pitching before testing him in the majors.

[NewMarketSean]

Yeah this is a non-issue. If Fiorentino makes the team next season, it shows me the O's are intent to repeat their roster manager management miscues.

[sonny]

To me he's nothing more than a glorified Brandon Fahey. But then again Fahey is on the major league roster[versatility I guess].

[wildcard]

Fiorentino isn't a prospect anymore, but he has extreme enough L/R splits that he might yet turn into a poor man's John Lowenstein. Nearly 1000 AA at bats with a sub-.800 OPS, and 24 years old, means he's been demoted to "possible useful piece for a few years."

If they can't bribe/extort/trick/drug/threaten another GM into taking Jay Payton off their hands, I guess they could do worse than a Fiorentino/Payton platoon in left. Wouldn't set the world on fire, but preferable to just throwing Payton out there again. Maybe some rotating combination of Payton, Patterson, Fiorentino, and Reimold would be a relatively cheap CF/LF with some defense, some offense, and some upside.

Confusing post Jon.

The first paragraph says he is not a prospect. The second paragraph says he might fit in the majors under certain circumstances. That is a prospect.

[DrungoHazewood]

Confusing post Jon.

The first paragraph says he is not a prospect. The second paragraph says he might fit in the majors under certain circumstances. That is a prospect.

Prospect = someone who is likely to have a good, long career as a productive regular.

Useful Piece = someone who might be ok as a platoon player or reserve for a while.

[DrungoHazewood]

To me he's nothing more than a glorified Brandon Fahey. But then again Fahey is on the major league roster[versatility I guess].

They are both skinny white guys who're paid to play baseball, so I guess I can understand the confusion if you haven't really looked at their performance records.

[Gurgi]

Still to early people to give up on him and label him a 4th outfielder just yet. People should always remember Mora. He looked like a career minor leager till 28 or so.

With the drug crack down I wouldnt be surprised if 15-18 homers a year out of a corner outfielder becomes quite acceptable soon. I think Fio could put up that in a year or two if he stays healthy.

[Lucky Jim]

They are both skinny white guys who're paid to play baseball, so I guess I can understand the confusion if you haven't really looked at their performance records.

Looking at performance records takes up valuable time, Drungo. Why bother?

[DrungoHazewood]

Still to early people to give up on him and label him a 4th outfielder just yet. People should always remember Mora. He looked like a career minor leager till 28 or so.

Don't give up on players still under team control who aren't hurting you, but don't count on players substantially bucking the norm by peaking 3, 4, 5 years late. Mora is an outlier. You can count the number of 28-year-old minor league journeymen turned 31-year-old MVP candidates in all of history on your fingers. Probably one hand's worth of fingers.

With the drug crack down I wouldnt be surprised if 15-18 homers a year out of a corner outfielder becomes quite acceptable soon. I think Fio could put up that in a year or two if he stays healthy.

Not sure 15-18 homers was acceptable out of a corner outfielder in, say, 1985. Not unless you did a lot of other things well. 20 LF/RFers hit 20+ homers in 1985.

[Gurgi]

Twenty six teams in 85. Each with two starters at the corner makes 52 players. 15-18 homers would be a perfectly acceptable number. Add he is thin and fairly quick. He would get to more balls than say a Manny Rameriez type.

I really dont see your point that 2/5 ths of the corner hitters will homer more. 3/5 will likey homer less.

[clapdiddy]

I'd much rather see a Fio/Knott platoon than Payton.

[blazer]

Still to early people to give up on him and label him a 4th outfielder just yet. People should always remember Mora. He looked like a career minor leager till 28 or so.

With the drug crack down I wouldnt be surprised if 15-18 homers a year out of a corner outfielder becomes quite acceptable soon. I think Fio could put up that in a year or two if he stays healthy.

No, I don't believe it is too early to give up on him as a ML starter. Right now he projects as a 4th/5th OF, not even a platoon guy IMO. 24 years old in AA is not young. If he becomes a guy that can get 200 ABs a year in Baltimore as a reserve OF, I will be content.