Mark Reynolds Coming to Baltimore

The Orioles have acquired 27-year old 3B Mark Reynolds from the Arizona Diamondbacks, reportedly for RP David Hernandez and RP Kam Mickolio.
I am not really sure how I feel about this deal. Really, it depends on how the rest of the offseason goes. But even Reynolds, in a vacuum, leaves me conflicted.

If you have read my blog for even a little bit, you know how much I love power bats. Love 'em. It's why I keep banging the drum for Luke Scott. It's why I was pimping Adam Dunn for Baltimore this offseason and in the 2008 offseason. It's why I love the potential of Adam Jones and Matt Wieters. Power. Power makes the offense go. It's a game changer and the Orioles don't have nearly enough.

Reynolds brings power in spades. Over the past three seasons, Reynolds has an ISO .247. That's 9th in baseball over that span, ahead of guys like Joey Votto, Adrian Gonzalez, Evan Longoria, Ryan Braun and Dan Uggla. On top of that, nobody ahead of him on that list plays anything other than DH or first base. According to HitTrackerOnline, the True Distance of his average homer was 415.6, tops among the leading home run hitters in baseball. If you can get that kind of power from your third baseman, you take it. Anytime. Sick, sick power. 32 homers in 2010...that was a down year.

Of course, I'm leaving out the downside. Reynolds hit .198 last season. .198...that's it. I don't care much about batting average by itself but when you hit .198, it's really tough to build enough good on top of that to make the overall offensive numbers look respectable.

Not that Reynolds didn't try. His walk rate was 13.9% in 2010. That was 9th in baseball. He has a good eye, something his 200+ strikeouts in each of the last three seasons seems to contradict. I don't care much about strikeouts either...but 200+ consistently is enough to raise anyone's eyebrow. That and the fact that his K rate has risen in each of the last three seasons too. And his Line Drive rates have dropped.

But his walk rate has increased over that span too. And he was hampered by a bad hammy late in the season and the Diamondbacks, in an effort to cut down on the strikeouts, started tinkering with his swing mid-season. And even with all this working against him, he put up an OPS of .754 (98 OPS+) Those are serviceable numbers, even with a .198 average.

The O's are only committed to him for 2 years. Maybe he gets healthy and Jim Pressley (the new Oriole hitting coach) sees a way to get him back on track. But I think he's going to turn me into a manic-depressive every at bat as I experience ecstasy everytime he launches one into the leftfield seats and despairing when he strikes out four times in a game.

As for the guys Baltimore sent to the desert, losing David Hernandez is a bit of a blow. I think Hernandez will be, someday, a successful major league pitcher. However, his path is almost certainly that of a reliever at this point and you shouldn't hesitate to part with relief arms to improve the club. Hernandez did manage to increase his K rate to something close to his minor league rate in 2010 but he was still essentially a flyball pitcher and figures to do better in Arizona. I have little doubt that he may have success going forward but he won't be as valuable as Reynolds has the chance to be.

Kam Mickolio is another story. Mickolio was a top relief prospect coming into the 2010 season. He's got a live fastball and was seen by many as a future closer. But he has struggled with wildness, struggled a bit during brief stints in the majors and will be 27 next season. Again, he may develop into a top notch reliever but there's no guarantee. And he is, after all, just a relief prospect.

I have no idea how all of this will work out. As you can see, I'm back and forth on Reynolds. I don't even know if this means the end of Josh Bell either since Reynolds could be moved over to first base. But there's a lot of upside here and the O's didn't give up any of their core building blocks. I'm cautiously pleased.

Base Hits: Roberts Chases Himself, The Bryce Harper Sweepstakes and Minor Opinions

One of the bright spots for the Orioles in 2009 (and for the decade) has been Brian Roberts. Roberts struck his 46th double in Tampa last night and is well on pace to break his club record of 51. The top seasons for doubles:

              2B
Roberts '08    51
Tejada '05     50
Roberts '04    50
Huff '08       48
Markakis '08   48
Ripken '83     47
Roberts '09    46
Ripken '91     46
Roberts '04    45
Markakis '07   43

Something to watch in September besides the standings...

*****

Sad but true, the Orioles are actually in the running for the Bryce Harper sweepstakes. Follow the standings daily at Raise the Jolly Roger.

*****

Feel the love.

Aubrey Huff has been absolutely glowing about the Baltimore Orioles since he was traded. Some quotes:

"I've grown close to a lot of staff, and especially a lot of players on this team. It's definitely emotional. I've seen all these young guys come up and I've had a great time with all these young guys....

"I want to thank Andy for the opportunity to come here and play all these years, and the whole staff. Dave's been great, all the players have been awesome, and I'm really going to miss it... I really enjoyed my time here."

Reportedly Andy MacPhail is open to the idea of Huff returning next year and on XM MLB Home Plate yesterday, Huff was again glowing in his praise of his time with Baltimore.

Could Huff be in Baltimore in 2010? If the price was right, I wouldn't be surprised.

*****

I was browsing through Baseball America and saw some Oriole minor leaguers honored. Here's some of them.

In a survey of Carolina League managers (A+):

Best Pitching Prospect: Brian Matusz

Best Breaking Pitch: Brian Matusz

Best Reliever: Luis Lebron

In a survey of Eastern League managers (AA):

Best Pitching Prospect: Brian Matusz

Best Changeup: Brian Matusz
Best Defensive Outfielder: Jonathan Tucker

In a survey of International League managers (AAA):

Best Power Prospect: Nolan Reimold

Best Breaking Pitch: Chris Tillman

Best Reliever: Kam Mickolio

Best Defensive 1B: Michael Aubrey

Brian Matusz got noticed a bit, huh?

Nice to see Kam Mickolio on the list too.