178 replies to this topic

[jamesdean]

Pretty wild with Mateo scoring the eventual winning run thanks to a single to left, and then some little league handling of the ball with it ending up in deep right center, then a wild pitch.  Also a heads up play for Garcia Jr to keep his glove on Mateo at second because I think there's a chance he winds up scoring if he "knows" the ball is going over and hits the turn in full stride.

"Little League" is a good description.  Some of the fundamentals you see in today's game is really laughable, Orioles included.  Cal Sr. would be appalled if he was watching games today. 

[makoman]

Hyde isnt gonna come out last night postgame and say we hes no longer our closer. Im thinking the stick with him is just to say they arent going to release him or find a phantom injury. Didnt read that as he has the next save chance. I would hope they understand he should be pitching in lower lev spots

Hopefully. What Hyde says doesn’t really matter, we’ll know the next few times he pitches what their plan is. It’d be one thing if he looked fine and just wasn’t getting results, like the first BS of the year. He just looks lost.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

I mean hes had blowup years before. Certainly possible he becomes such a liability that they have to just release him. I was fully behind the signing but it came with risks. Like any RP really. Still like the decision to go after a proven closer. I think Roertson was the otger realistic option for us and he is pitching well so far in Texas. Not closing though

[Hooded Viper]

Wouldn’t be surprised if Wells gets the call when/f he comes back healthy. Though it’s weird we haven’t heard anything about him in a while.

[Nigel Tufnel]

I wasn't paying attention - did Kimbrel throw anything other than fastballs last night?

 

He pretty much singlehandedly lost the NLCS for the Phillies last year, so hopefully this isn't just the new normal.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Wouldn’t be surprised if Wells gets the call when/f he comes back healthy. Though it’s weird we haven’t heard anything about him in a while.

Im concerned about Wells. Last news was he threw and was going for more testing. No elaboration on what kind of tests.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

I see Roch just had an update on Wells yesterday. In Sarasota. Resting and not throwing yet.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Really? For a full season that'd be like 35 scoreless innings. 35 is way less than you expect from a guy for a full season, but 0 ERA is very appealing.

Of course a zero era is enticing. But I am not carrying a guy on a roster with such limited use ability. Shoot the way Hyde runs through the bullpen that would be horrible. Now that said its really moot because no pitcher ever would even get a chance to do that because he'd never make a roster unless you could hide him in the minors until September then bring him up for the playoffs where the extra days off could make that work.

[BobPhelan]

I wasn't paying attention - did Kimbrel throw anything other than fastballs last night?

He pretty much singlehandedly lost the NLCS for the Phillies last year, so hopefully this isn't just the new normal.

6 KC’s out of 19 pitches. Velocity continues to trend up but no swings and misses with either pitch.

[Grindelwald]

Well then you shouldn't read what he said.....
 

Just wild to me that he would say that.  Obviously he can't thrown him under the bus publicly, but my word.
Also I am sick of hearing about how he's tied at so and so spot on the saves list, like it's something so important that it has to happen.

Looks like I picked a bad week to stop drinking

[BSLSteveBirrer]

On April 24 Kimbrel got a save and his era was down to 0.82. Since then:

 

5 outings. 2 IP. 6 hits. 7 BBs. 6 earned runs. ERA ballooned to 4.73.

 

I don't care about his place on the all time saves list. I care a lot about 2024 and the O's chances at a WS title. Sure he can still have a good outing. But the handwriting is on the wall. Unless there is some injury driving his control issues then he's done to me. I don't trust him at all and come the playoffs think its a disaster waiting to happen if he's our closer.

[CantonJester]

I don't think this is a 'let's see if we can tweak something, or get him adequate rest to right the ship' situation. 

 

This is who Craig Kimbrel is now. 

 

Do they do this dance all year, or figure out some better late inning options (currently not on the 40 man)?

 

I vote the latter. 

[Mike B]

Slow night on the game thread.  You guys are only going to DFA two player.

[ivanbalt]

Slow night on the game thread.  You guys are only going to DFA two player.

Orioles ended up winning.  If they lost...

[weird-O]

RELEASE HIM

I don't think they should do that, but Kimbrel should be removed from the closer role. Let him set up or give him some clean middle innings when needed, something less stressful. 

[Mackus]

This is who Craig Kimbrel is now. 

 

Who is he?  The guy with the sub-1 ERA for the first four weeks or the guy with the 20+ ERA for the past two weeks?  Overall he's been not good enough to remain the closer, so if he's gonna be exactly like this he needs to just be a low leverage middle reliever, possible DFA candidate.  He's basically been equal to Baumann so far this year, because of how deeply bad the last two weeks have been.  If he can limit the bad stretches to just be bad and not abysmal (he's been pitching worse than Holliday was hitting, IMO), then he can still be useful.  I don't know what he is, but I know he shouldn't be closing right now.  Continuing him in that role will be a very easy-to-foresee error.

[CantonJester]

Who is he?  The guy with the sub-1 ERA for the first four weeks or the guy with the 20+ ERA for the past two weeks?  Overall he's been not good enough to remain the closer, so if he's gonna be exactly like this he needs to just be a low leverage middle reliever, possible DFA candidate.  He's basically been about as good as Baker so far this year.  If he can limit the bad stretches to just be bad and not abysmal (he's been pitching worse than Holliday was hitting, IMO), then he can still be useful.  I don't know what he is, but I know he shouldn't be closing right now.  Continuing him in that role will be a very easy-to-foresee error.

 

He’s capable of being both. IMO less so the former than the latter though. Either way, the variance makes having him closes games a non-starter (heh). 

[russsnyder]

Except we were punching down against a middleweight fighter who we should have TKOed in the 9th round.

They won.

That's all that matters.

[russsnyder]

Kimbrel's spots will really be picked carefully. But they cant give him save opps right now until he strings together outings in a row. Or really many high lev spots. Let him pitch when we are behind. Cant completely avoid using him in higher lev spots but thats got to be the goal.


You arent doing anything drastic like cutting him. Now, if he is still really bad in a few months and we add a few guys it could happen

This should be the plan going forward.

I really think that Coulumbe, Cano, and Perez have enough stuff to handle the leverage situations in the interim. IMO, Coulumbe would be the guy I would insert as the interim closer.

Whether or not Kimbrel can be counted in as the closer, the team needs another high leverage reliever pretty badly.