J.J. Hardy, Mark Reynolds, and the Orioles off-season shopping list

2B/3B/SS: PA, AVG, OBP, HR, RBI, Fielding percentage, Total chances at designated position

So you need a lot of playing time, you need to hit well, near the top of the order, and with power, and not make errors. And, importantly for us here, it’s the past TWO seasons.

LaRoche was a type B this season. I’m surprised about Reynolds as well, he must have gotten killed batting .198 and made a lot of errors, and that’ll hurt his ranking in 2011

the creamy-smoothers wrought by a wine drunk.

To be fair, when I read it I actually chuckled and said something like Yup, tha’s right in my internal voice.

And then I threw up.

do you think the team will contend in 2011?

I think they contend on opening day. After that, I don’t have a crystal ball.

But I can’t say for sure they won’t contend. And neither can you, although you did above.

The first t is silent, of course.

…though I don’t want to speak for zk.

I’d bet a considerable amount of money that they are ten games out of third place in the AL east on September 1st.

So it is pretty likely that the Rays are going to be in 3rd place on Sept 1. Through 135 games (roughly), their record will prolly be something like 75-60 (assuming they win about 90). So 10 games off that pace would be 65-70. I think it’s entirely possible that the Orioles will be within 10 games of them. I’m not sure how much I’d bet on that however.

marry me?

they will absolutely never make the playoffs again, because the Yankees and Red Sox will always add pieces like Teixeira/Sabathia/Lee/Gonzalez/Crawford and the O’s simply will not, or at least not multiple ones at the same time. The Rays in 08 didn’t have superstars, and neither do many NL teams….I know I know…AL East, but still, there is a chance that with a good young core and adding the right few pieces can turn into success for the O’s…not saying it will this year, because against all my fanatical dreams, I realize in all likelihood it won’t happen.

Which brings me to this: I know almost the entire world is against expanding the playoffs….but honestly that may be our only real chance and getting in, barring the MLB suddenly deciding to hate NYY blood money and institute a salary cap….

I’m making one very basic point, which you’re blowing out of proportion.

My point is, anything can happen. It doesn’t mean I think it will happen; it means I won’t categorically state that it can’t.

You’re twisting that point into “This is the kind of crap that keeps bad teams bad; the delusion that we’re just a couple decent pieces away from contention. But we’re not.” That’s setting up a straw man. I never suggested we are a couple of pieces away, or that we aren’t a bad team.

I suggested that if a lot of things break our way, the Orioles could, maybe, MAYBE, be contenders next year. Those things would basically include every one of our young players advancing forward in a way that is highly unlikely, while teams ahead of us implode for one reason or another.

It’s a bit of a fantasy, but then again, so is following a team with a 13-year losing streak. And stranger things have happened.

Do I think it is likely the Orioles will contend? Not at all. There’s no way I’d take your bet.

But do I outright insist the Orioles can’t contend? No. Because I don’t really know, and neither do you.

If we had had this same conversation a year ago, you could have told me that Boston was an XX-win team, and that they had the folllowing 5-win and 3-win players and a bunch of other number crunching that, guess what, didn’t amount to anything—because they got hit by injuries, and because Lackey sucked balls. I’m sure that a bunch of saber types, yourself included, would have expected the addition of Lackey to “add xx wins” to Boston’s season. You’d have been wrong.

No matter how many times you try to forecast the season on paper based on a dizzying array of statistics, you will always be off. Most of the time you will only be off by a little, but sometimes you will flat out be blindsided by what can happen in baseball.

This is why I continue to follow the sport, else what’s the point? But perhaps that’s just it—you and I have different reasons for being baseball fans, and that’s okay too.

I learned it by watching James alright! I learned it by watching James.

Brian Matusz has a long way to go before he’s the equivalent of David Price or CC Sabathia.

Right now, that’s true. Matusz could easily turn into Price next season. Price’s first full season in the bigs wasn’t stellar either (98 ERA+, 102/54 SO/BB). Matusz has the track record and the talent to be just as good as Price and CC next season.

because I thought our young talent was going to turn the corner. It didn’t. But even if it did, the team still would have sucked because of Tejada and Atkins and Millwood and Gonzalez, etc.

I am once again optimistic that our young talent will turn the corner in 2011. I might very well be wrong. But I think that if they do it this year, we will be in a much better position to compete than we would have been if 2010 was the year that the young core put it together.

So there is a point to putting the best spare parts available on the field to go with the core. We don’t know when (or sadly if) they will put it all together, but when they do, I want them to be surrounded by players who don’t suck so much.

Wieters struggles and Arrieta and Tillman fail to develop, then this year would still be a waste even if A-Gon, Lee, and Crawford were here. You have to realize that this organization is going to approach this season as if the young core of this team will succeed. Not everybody sits back and waits for failure so they can say I told you so. These signings are a way to upgrade at the positions of need in order to supplement the O’s young talented core. I don’t think anyone is saying that Hardy and Reynolds are now the face of this franchise nor should anyone expect that. If this team is going to succeed and beat the best, then a majority of that success will come from the roster prior to this week.

Plus, you shift him to DH once his body starts failing and you’ve saved him a year or two.

I thought we were talking Opening Day rotations.

We’ll have to do whatever it takes to get albers back.

I’m hopeful for Jones, but sadly think his potential is much less than originally hoped for. If they all improve, this will be a very fun year. I think Reimold could actually be the biggest difference maker on this team if he stays healthy and gets back to 09 form and beyond. I love his batting eye and power potential.

I don’t think they will finish any better than 4th place, but looking at the team, there is a lot to like. In the 13 year stretch of crapiness that we have endured, the Orioles have finished strong exactly twice. In 2004 and 2010. In the year that followed that ‘04 campaign, the Orioles played pretty strong for the first 3 months of the season. And while that was fueled by PEDs, the 2011 team should have many players whose (who’s?) best days are ahead of them. Potential lineup:
Roberts
Hardy
Markakis
Reynolds
Scott
Wieters
first base (hopefully LaRoche)
Jones
Pie

That lineup doesn’t suck. The health is questionable, but still, everybody is healthy right now.

And of course the success of the last two months was all on the pitching staff, which has Guthrie, Matusz, 3E1N, Arrieta and Tillman. With Britton a few months away.

82 wins might be a stretch, but I don’t think 78 is.

except Viviano and Bulldog….just purely unlistenable…..

What happened with the XM side of the deal that screwed their subscribers? Having only had Sirius, I’m curious.

really? dios mio.

by drunk kids in a pick up truck

Forget those whole number. It’s fractions time! (not to be confused with Lima Time, God rest his bleach-bearded soul)

it seemed big out there