Three Facts: Baltimore Orioles

by R.J. Anderson on Feb 12, 2009 9:50 PM EST

Adam Jones, Felix Pie, and Nick Markakis form perhaps the best defensive outfield in baseball. This assumes Luke Scott mixes it up between first base and DH alongside Aubrey Huff.

Things might not be pretty in 2009, but the team has a ton of young talent. Don't expect the Mark Hendricksons of the world to be near Baltimore for years to come.

Aubrey Huff was a 4 win player last year for the first time since 2004. Did you even notice?

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yes, everyone noticed Huff

The thing about Scott getting run out of the OF is that he’s a pretty good defender himself, as you probably know, RJ. CHONE projects him as better than Markakis, actuallly (+2 to +1), although I’m not sure how much he uses the better PBP data.

A crude weighted average of the last three years of data with a bit of regression to average has Markakis at +5/150 in RF, and Scott at about the same in the corners…

Anyway, the point is that they have four very good outfielders.. there are a lot of teams that could use a Luke Scott, a possible 3 WAR player, in their lineup everyday.

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by Matt Klaassen on Feb 12, 2009 10:35 PM EST reply actions

Yeah, Scott's not too bad defensively either.

by R.J. Anderson on Feb 12, 2009 10:54 PM EST up reply actions

Scott will be Dh, but he is NOT better defensvly than Markakis...

I don’t care what any of the metrics say, but scott isn’t better

by Markakis and Wieters 4 Life on Feb 13, 2009 3:36 PM EST up reply actions

WHY???

Honestly, why should anyone who reads that comment care what you have to say? And I mean that literally. We don’t know you. We haven’t seen you prove your knowledge of scouting defense. What reason would we have to trust you over the metrics? I understand they go against “common knowledge”. Why are they wrong, though?

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by Sky Kalkman on Feb 13, 2009 3:41 PM EST up reply actions

I feel they are wrong because

One Markakis has a much better arm than Scott, and uses his arm much more effectivly as shown by his 17 OF assists. Two I feel (an opinion I know) that Markakis has much better instincts and gets a much better jump on the ball. Third, Markakis has more speed than Scott. I know that UZR and +/- go by Zone’s and i’m not sure if this is true, but Markakis might be lower because the CF’s range closer to his side in our stadium… this is a conjecture, and is probably just a guess…

Overall I feel Markakis is better because he has a bigger range, and seems to have better insticts. This is what I feel as an Orioles fan watching them both last year.

I know I can, and may very well be wrong, but this is my opinion on the matter.

by Markakis and Wieters 4 Life on Feb 13, 2009 7:20 PM EST up reply actions

Typically, the high OF assist people seem to have the worst arms, but they get challenged so much that they get lucky more times than the other people have a chance to prove they have a good arm.

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by WalrusMan on Feb 13, 2009 11:17 PM EST up reply actions

That isn't true in this case...

Markakis has a very strong arm…

by Markakis and Wieters 4 Life on Feb 14, 2009 1:08 PM EST up reply actions

Nice specifics, thanks.

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Feb 14, 2009 12:23 AM EST up reply actions

Luke Scott

will get his playing time for the Orioles next year. Pie is a question mark, and Jones spent time on the DL last year. If I could move him for pitching, I’d strongly consider it though.

Fielding – in UZR they are pretty similar. Markakis’ plus arm, according toe fangraphs, gives him around a 5 run edge over Scott. A clear difference there.

by Adam Peterson on Feb 14, 2009 4:35 PM EST up reply actions

arm is included in UZR

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Feb 14, 2009 5:21 PM EST up reply actions

Yep

I missed that. No clear difference then. Scott must actually have better range than Markakis to make up for the difference in ARM.

by Adam Peterson on Feb 14, 2009 6:23 PM EST up reply actions

I think one difference might be

that Scott has played more LF— his arm in right doesn’t seem to be as good. RF is harder that left, so I can buy Markakis as a better defender. My point was mainly that Scott is a good player all-around — yes, some platoon issues, but I"m not sure they’re worse than a lot of lefty power hitters.

I wish the Royals had him.

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by Matt Klaassen on Feb 14, 2009 11:52 PM EST up reply actions

Yep

I’ve always thought, especially since ARM is now part of UZR, that using the same position adjustment for LF and RF may not make sense. Instead of a standard -0.75 in both positions, perhaps RF should be -0.5 or higher. Just a thought.

by Adam Peterson on Feb 15, 2009 7:48 AM EST up reply actions

I think the O’s should be pretty fun to watch next season.

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by xanthan on Feb 13, 2009 8:18 AM EST reply actions

In the field and at the plate

On the mound…still pretty ugly. Their best prospects are a couple years away.

687 walks allowed last year, worst in the majors and 30 more than Pittsburgh. By comparison, the Twins allowed 406 walks. Huge difference there. Perhaps an improved defense (especially SS) will result in some more aggressive pitching.

by Adam Peterson on Feb 14, 2009 4:39 PM EST up reply actions