Really...how much more time is Atkins going to get???

[NewMarketSean]

What? Did you see Turner play when he was here? He was not good at all. At least Lugo provides a PR and defensive replacement.

You mean did I see the 9 at bats he got?

He may not be great defensively, but Turner has a .371 career OBP in the minors. There is your lead-off hitter. I think he deserves more than 9 at bats to prove what he is, good or bad, over Lugo.

[Mackus]

Just want to give him a little longer to try and heat up. There are still a lot of proven players with sub-.600 OPS right now, as I pointed out in a thread a few days ago. I am not optimistic that Atkins will improve, but for $4.5 mm I'd give him just a bit longer.

How about for $300k?

It won't cost us $4.5M to replace Atkins, it will cost us the prorated amount of a minimum contract.

The $4.5M is already gone. Unless you think Atkins is more likely to produce than Aubrey or whatever replacement you prefer over the remainder of the season, there is no reason to not make the switch now.

[JamesI]

I think the interesting thing is - does this lead to Miggy back at SS so Wigginton can move to third upon BRob's return?

If Wigginton keeps it up and BRob returns to form we'd see a much more serious lineup (until the trade deadline of course).

Not sure. Assuming BRob is back in early June (in time for my birthday!) and Reimold can handle first, something needs to be done for Wiggi. I just don't see Tejada moving to short. So Wiggi will probably DH/back up 1st, 3rd, 2nd (don't see Roberts playing everyday at least at first) and Scott to left field.

[Stotle]

Assuming BRob is able to come back on June 10 (not necessarily a safe assumption), to me that's the perfect time to cut Atkins and install Wigginton at 1B.

$4.5 million well spent....

[Guest BrettMeister86]

Hernandez to the pen

Bring up Tillman or Arrieta to be 5th starter

Send down Castillo

Release Atkins (MacPhail's biggest mistake so far)

Roberts returns

Wiggy to 3B, Miggy to SS, Reimold to 1B (Bell isn't ready)

All of a sudden:

SP Millwood

SP Guthrie

SP Matusz

SP Bergesen

SP Arrieta/Tillman

CL Simon

SU Koji

SU Ohman

LP Hendrickson

RP Hernandez

RP Albers

RP Meredith

2B Roberts S

RF Markakis L

3B Wigginton R

DH Scott L

SS Tejada R

CA Wieters S

1B Reimold R

CF Jones R

LF Patterson L

BN Izturis

BN Lugo

BN Tatum

BN Garko

Woah! The O's have a less pathetic lineup with more power in the infield and improved BP depth...just what they need...

It really isn't that hard. Someone pay me 1/10th of what Andy makes and I'll give you a better team.

[Sports Guy]

Get Garko and Dan Johnson.

Both should be pretty easy moves.

[DrungoHazewood]

Lugo over Turner is another glaring MacPhail blunder...and one that doesn't get discussed as much as it should. He has a solid career OBP in the minors, and realistically speaking, should be batting lead-off and playing 2B right now.

The problem with that is you don't have anyone who can play shortstop. I don't know about you, but this is already a team that's fielding a few sub-par defenders like Wigginton and Atkins. I'm not ready to give Izturis 9 innings a day every day at short because there's no backup.

Not only that, but your only second basemen would also both be poor defensively.

Just want to give him a little longer to try and heat up. There are still a lot of proven players with sub-.600 OPS right now, as I pointed out in a thread a few days ago. I am not optimistic that Atkins will improve, but for $4.5 mm I'd give him just a bit longer.

It's been nearly two months and I haven't seen anything from Atkins that makes me think he'll ever be a major league player again. He's literally hitting like Luis Hernandez - his 2010 OPS is .020 points higher than the career mark of our gold standard for offensive futility. And in the field and on the bases he's been completely unremarkable.

I would actually like to see some video of Atkins in 2006, but I can't even imagine him as an offensive force.

I'm not thrilled by the other options, but there's just no excuse for having a sub-replacement first baseman who does nothing well. Aubrey can field - that by itself is an improvement. A Dan Johnson type could at least put up a .250/.310/.425 line, which would be a massive improvement.

[PrivateO]

I seriously don't get how people don't realize that Tejada is not going to play SS. He was signed as a 3B. He had to learn the position in Spring Training. The team isn't going to up and change their minds with Tejada unless something drastic happens like Izturis, Lugo, and Andino all get hurt simultaneously. It's just not realistic.

[LA2]

I'm not thrilled by the other options, but there's just no excuse for having a sub-replacement first baseman who does nothing well. Aubrey can field - that by itself is an improvement. A Dan Johnson type could at least put up a .250/.310/.425 line, which would be a massive improvement.

Also: If Aubrey can give us what he did last year (.800+ OPS), that wd be a significant improvement, over and above his defensive prowess. I wonder whether there's an analysis of why he's struggling in the minors this year: if it's just post-farmed-out depression, maybe we have the cure!

[DrungoHazewood]

Also: If Aubrey can give us what he did last year (.800+ OPS), that wd be a significant improvement, over and above his defensive prowess. I wonder whether there's an analysis of why he's struggling in the minors this year: if it's just post-farmed-out depression, maybe we have the cure!

The simple answer is that Aubrey has always put up a .700-ish OPS in the high minors (.753 OPS in over 1400 PAs in AA/AAA), and that his .829 in Baltimore was a small-sample fluke. His 2010 performance in Norfolk is exactly in line with what I'd expect.

It's just not reasonable to predict a major league OPS 75 points higher than your minor league numbers when you're talking about a 28-year-old. I'd assume Aubrey was a low-.700s hitter with a good glove. For any team not employing Garrett Atkins that's a poor option.

[TonySoprano]

I think the "plan" is Atkins will be on the roster until at least Roberts returns, assuming that is in June. With Roberts back, Wigginton shifts over to first base.

[blid]

Yeah, assuming Roberts rehab continues as planned (fairly big assumption), I expect a significant amount of moves to go down around that time. Last night, Thorne and Palmer mentioned that the organization is discussing moving Miggy back to SS and calling up Bell to play 3rd in an effort to jumpstart the offense.

If Roberts is back at 2B, they could put Miggy SS like you said, but also put Wiggy on third (I know) and Reimold at 1B for the strongest possible offensive lineup. That's if Bell needs some more work.

[wildcard]

I expect Atkins to be on the roster all year. I expect Wiggy to become the regular 1b when Roberts returns.

[TonySoprano]

Certainly our top-flight hitting coach, the Crow, can work with Atkins to fix his mechanics.

[Roll Tide]

I am not saying that Rhyne Hughes was any better, but with Hughes having been sent down, Atkins looks to be the everyday 1B unless Trembley is going to use Wigginton at 1B more often, at which point Julio Lugo plays 2B and you've still got a no-offense player in the line-up regardless.

So my question is: When is Atkins gone?

MacPhail is probably reluctant to eat Atkins' salary and pay someone else (Blalock, Garko, Dan Johnson) to come here and put up slightly better numbers than Atkins. And if you are paying $400K, $500K for a few points of OPS on top of Atkins' salary, then maybe it isn't worth it.

But let's face it: Garrett Atkins completely blows. MacPhail needs to own this colossal pooch-screw and get someone in here who can put up better numbers for a 1B than Atkins' embarrassing .582 OPS and 6 RBI.

This experiment needs to end. Now.

And MacPhail said on the video that he would look externally for help. Well, the help is there. It may not be all that great -- but it is almost certainly better than Garrett Freaking Atkins.

Hate to say it ...Nut I think the Orioles will give Atkins a free pass until the season is over.