"Only the O's" Award

by salvotion on Nov 3, 2007 12:09 AM EDT

Congratulations to the 2007 Orioles Left Field Platoon!

You are the proud owners of two of the worst Values over Replacement Player in the American League from Baseball Prospectus!

Bottom 5 2007 AL Left Fielders, by VORP

Player, Team, EqA, VORP

Craig Monroe, DET, .212, -15.7
Jay Gibbons, BAL, .211, -11.8
Reed Johnson, TOR, .216, -11.7
Emil Brown, KCA, .226, -9.0
Jay Payton, BAL, .230, -8.1

I knew you could do it! Jay, I must say, given the contract extension we gave you, I would hope that next year you can set your sights on Craig Munroe and take that title for its rightful home here in Baltimore. If you stay healthy, I think you can do it. I believe in you, Jay!

Let's give these boys a hand!

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Comments

If you think of the upgrade an average LF

would give the O's, the results are a little scary. Or even a below average but adequate guy. Say that Jeff Fiorentino could hit...what.....275/.350/.410 in left with acceptable defense? Is that plausible? Well, anyway, a player giving the O's that kind of production would be good for three more wins with the bat than the two Jays. That's without taking into account fielding. Probably a four-win upgrade for a playing a below average LF.

Really, if the Orioles are going to trade Tejada, which I think would signal that the FO recognizes that the Orioles' reloading attempt has failed, they might as well play the kids.

"True friends stab you in the front."-Oscar Wilde.

by NHZ @ Camden Chat on Nov 3, 2007 2:56 PM EDT reply actions

Fio

"Say that Jeff Fiorentino could hit...what.....275/.350/.410 in left with acceptable defense?"

Acceptable defense yes, I'm skeptical of that batting line though.

by birdman on Nov 3, 2007 3:42 PM EDT reply actions

Okay,

his plate discipline did seem to be a plus, but even, say, .260/.335/.390 would be an upgrade.

"True friends stab you in the front."-Oscar Wilde.

by NHZ @ Camden Chat on Nov 4, 2007 1:07 AM EDT up reply actions

I agree...

...that Fiorentino could put up even a .760 OPS in left. I'd really be surprised if he were much of an upgrade at all.

by KenDixonFanClub on Nov 3, 2007 11:22 PM EDT reply actions

Er, rather...

I agree that it is unlikely that Fio could do that.

by KenDixonFanClub on Nov 3, 2007 11:23 PM EDT reply actions

Fio

Hes dangerously close to losing his prospect status. Two straight years at Bowie with no improvement at all, and hes gonna be 25 next year. He has all the makings of a quadruple A player, which would sadly giving him a shot at starting for the Orioles.

by UMterp08 on Nov 3, 2007 11:45 PM EDT reply actions

LF

I knew they could do it! Way to go Jays!

Re: Fio...I'd platoon him. I think he would be alright against righties. He's another prospect that was rushed which has really cost him (see also: almost every Oriole prospect over the last 15 years).

Librarians are hiding something

by dfa on Nov 5, 2007 1:03 AM EST reply actions

re:

In most cases, you can either play or you can't. "Rushing" is a little overly blamed for failed prospects. Some guys just aren't major league players. You can be rushed up too fast, obviously, but I don't think this is the case with Fiorentino. He's just not that good.

A TYPICAL, DISGUSTING DISPLAY!

by Scott Christ on Nov 5, 2007 1:33 PM EST up reply actions

maybe

but Fio was promoted from A ball. A ball! He should've failed in the minors, worked through it, and then been promoted. Looking at his splits though, it's clear he's able to hit right handers, at least in the minors. (a cool site for this kind of info is www.minorleaguesplits.com and you can also use minors.baseball-reference.com for more info).

Maybe Fio is AAAA player. But it's a shame he was rushed, we'll never really know how that retarded his development.

Librarians are hiding something

by dfa on Nov 5, 2007 1:54 PM EST up reply actions

Sure,

"But it's a shame he was rushed, we'll never really know how that retarded his development."

But I don't think I'm going to lose any sleep over this.

by birdman on Nov 5, 2007 6:30 PM EST up reply actions

I agree with you (and SC)

Fiorentino was probably never expected to be a major league ballplayer. You need guys like that in the system anyway, but let's be real here.

by pipkin on Nov 6, 2007 12:10 AM EST up reply actions

the problem with rushing fio

is that he could have been something special. Going into 2005, BPro rated him very highly (granted, sample size issues and all), and he was smacking the crap out of the ball in Frederick...and then, well, let's meet major league pitching.

He may not have been much either way, but with top prospects, there is no need to rush them. Of course, the Orioles were desperate at the time and stupid is as stupid does.

Librarians are hiding something

by dfa on Nov 6, 2007 1:02 AM EST up reply actions

re:

BPro was also huge on Josh Phelps, who can also handle major league left-handed pitching and not much else. Screech could wind up a fine role player and platoon guy, but I really don't think he was ever going to be a major league regular with any real success.

All that said, and I do truly mean it all, it was very stupid to call Fiorentino up from A-ball when they did. There was absolutely no point to it. Did they pick his name out of a hat? He basically came up and sat around and probably got some rookie hazing when he could've been playing every day.

But with THAT qualification, I cannot possibly blame them rushing him into the majors (partially because he was only sort of in the majors) for his total stagnation at Bowie. Bottom line is he has not produced at Double-A like you'd want a real prospect to.

A TYPICAL, DISGUSTING DISPLAY!

by Scott Christ on Nov 6, 2007 3:43 AM EST up reply actions

i definitely agree

with what you are saying. I think if we go back to 2005, the Orioles were SO desperate for any success that they figured "To hell with nurturing, send up the most talented kids." The F/O was SO desperate, it was kind of embarassing. Really, this whole thing is an indictment of the team not being able to get AAAA types in AAA, guys who could fill in during emergencies. So, we call up a 20 year old from AAA and a 21 year old from AA (Penn and Fio) all because the team couldn't get the Jon Knotts and Victor Zambranos of the world in AAA.

Stupid Orioles.

And sure, he's not going to be half as good as Nick Markakis. The question as to whether Fio can be as effective as Corey is an open one, imo.

Librarians are hiding something

by dfa on Nov 6, 2007 1:46 PM EST up reply actions