Results tagged ‘ Robert Andino ’
Steve Tolleson, infielder
Is he a major-league player? Could he be the Orioles second baseman?
Tolleson is certainly a viable backup infielder candidate, and since he has also seen time in the outfield I would think he’s got a good shot at a bench position. He’s a reliable if not particularly rangy shortstop, and a solid second baseman. He hit .332 in 80 games in Sacramento in 2010, but otherwise has been a consistent .275 hitter in AAA — both in the International League and the Pacific Coast League. He’s got more pop than a typical utility infielder but less speed.
He hit .183 in his stay in Baltimore, but that was only 76 plate appearances and he did hit three doubles and two home runs. Previously, he hit .286 in 53 plate appearances with Oakland.
I suspect that Tolleson would be overmatched as a regular second baseman. He’d provide average defense at second base, hit around .250 with a few doubles and maybe 5 home runs. I’d consider him as a backup; for instance, I like him better than Robert Andino.
11/15/2012 — Tolleson has signed a minor-league free agent contract with the White Sox, according to Baseball America.
First Options from Spring Training
This past weekend, the Orioles made their first “cuts” from major-league spring training. Most of the players were minor-leaguers who received invitations to major-league spring training, and they were assigned to minor-league spring training. The Orioles will decide where they’ll play at the end of spring training. Two of the players were players on the 40-man roster, and were optioned to Norfolk. While it’s not guaranteed that Ryan Adams and Josh Bell will be on the Tides opening-day roster, it’s likely. I’m surprised that Adams and Bell were optioned so soon.
In Adams’ case, I really thought that the Orioles would want to give him a better look. It’s becoming apparent that presumptive Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts isn’t coming back from his injuries soon, and I think Adams is a viable candidate for second base. I know that a lot of scouts and others don’t think he can handle it defensively, but I disagree with them — I think he’s a passable second baseman. And Adams is hitting 1-for-11 in six spring training games. I think the real reason is that Robert Andino had an apparently good 2011 as Roberts’ replacement. Adams isn’t a potential star, and I can understand why you don’t want to replace a player after a good year with someone who’s not clearly superior. Adams will probably play in Norfolk as insurance in case Andino reverts to his norms.
In Bell’s case, I thought that Bell would stay in major-league camp because it doesn’t appear that he fits in the Orioles’ plans, and it would make more sense to keep him in major-league camp to see if another team might be interested him. The Orioles don’t have a short-term answer at third base. They were dissatisfied with Mark Reynolds’ defense at third in 2011, and talked about moving him to first base with Chris Davis playing third. However, in spring training, Reynolds is playing third base, which is inconsistent at the least. The other options are Wilson Betemit, signed as a free agent this offseason, and Ryan Flaherty, selected from the Cubs in the Rule V draft. The opportunity is there for Josh Bell, but he’s failed to seize it and he’s doesn’t appear to be in the Orioles’ plans. In 2011, the Orioles drafted and signed Jason Esposito and Nicky Delmonico, both who project as third basemen. So why the Orioles still want Josh Bell is something of a mystery.
Blake Davis, infielder
Is he a potential major league regular?
No. Davis is an adequate fielder and a left-handed hitter who can hit .250 with marginal other offensive contributions. That might make him a reasonable desperation option at second or short, but you shouldn’t project him as a regular.
How about a bench player?
I’d love to have Blake Davis on my team as a backup infielder. He’s an adequate fielder in the middle infield — but he’s the consistent type of adequate, making all the routine plays without having good range. He’s a left-handed batter who can hit .250, so he’s not a complete waste if you had to send him up as a pinch-hitter. His arm is a little short for third base, but he can play there in an emergency; and he can even play corner outfield if he had to.
If it came down to Blake Davis vs. Robert Andino, who would you choose as your backup infielder?
I know Andino had a “good” year filling in for Brian Roberts, but I’d still rather have Davis. I think Andino is much more likely to have a terrible year at the plate and to cost you games in the field.
Robert Andino, shortstop
Could the Orioles have made him the regular shortstop, rather than trading for J.J. Hardy?
They could, but it probably wouldn’t have been a good idea. The Alex Gonzalez family of shortstops is defined by (1) offensive contributions driven by power, with very marginal strikeout-to-walk ratios and on-base percentages; (2) reasonably good defensive shortstop play, with strong arms but a tendency to commit errors; (3) not a lot of speed. This applies to both Toronto Alex Gonzalez and Florida Alex Gonzalez, and they are the two best players of this type I can think of, hence the name.
Robert Andino is clearly in the Alex Gonzalez family of shortstops, but he’s not nearly as good as the Alex Gonzalezes. He’s closer in ability to two 1980′s shortstops, Todd Cruz and Andres Thomas. Cruz and Thomas could have a batting average upside around .250, and if they could hit .250, their .305 OBP, power, and defensive contributions would keep them in the lineup. But their downside would be a .200 batting average, which would lower their on-base percentage to an unacceptable .275 or so. At that level, their errors became less tolerable, and they almost immediately washed out of the majors after that first off-season.
That’s Andino. If he would hit .250, he’d stay in the lineup. As soon as he hit .210, he’d be gone.
Is he a viable bench player?
No. He’s not a good enough offensive player to be used as a pinch-hitter, and his error-prone-ness on defense make him a poor risk as a replacement. In general, you don’t want players on your bench who can lose you games. Andino is likely to commit costly errors that will cost you games.
A Night To Remember
By the time August rolls around, the games tend to blur into each other to some degree. What happened in that mid-June 5-2 win against Pawtucket? Was it the 3-2 loss or the 4-3 loss when the winning run scored on the balk? It takes quite a lot to distinguish a game from the others in the season. Last night’s 11-6 Tides win over Indianapolis had quite a lot of distinguishing characteristics:
· The Tides scored only one run more than twice the number of errors they committed. Now, it’s never a good thing when a team scores only twice as many runs as it commits errors. If they didn’t commit a lot of errors – say 0 or 1 – then the offense didn’t score many runs. Conversely, if the team scored a lot of runs, and still only scored twice as many runs as it committed errors, then they committed a LOT of errors. Last night, the Tides did score more than twice as many runs as they committed errors – but just barely. While the Tides scored 11 runs in their 11-6 victory over Indianapolis, they also committed five errors.
· POCS2(13E6).3-H(NR);1-3(E6/TH). That’s the BAM scoring code for one of the more peculiar plays I’ve seen. It took four people to get the official scoring right and three people to get the code right. With runners on first and third and two out, Tides pitcher Zach Britton threw to first to pick off the runner. Alex Presley, on first base, broke for second. First baseman Michael Aubrey threw to shortstop Robert Andino, and Brian Bixler on third base broke for home. Andino dropped the throw, and Presley scampered back to first. Bixler scored. Andino, trying to catch Presley, threw back to first but heaved the ball into the dugout. Presley was awarded third base. Brandon Moss, the batter, followed with a home run. We decided that Bixler’s run should be earned, because he would have scored before Presley would have been put out for the third out; but that Presley’s run (and Moss’s run) should be unearned because had Andino not dropped the throw and threw wildly, then Presley would have been the third out of the inning and Moss wouldn’t have hit the home run. Obvious decision – charge Andino with a throwing error allowing Presley to move from first to third. If that’s the only error on the play, then we’re in a bind. We can’t give Bixler a steal of home, because he scored as the result of the misplay. So he’d have to score on the throwing error, which would ultimately make his run unearned. We decided that we had to charge Andino with two errors – one on the dropped catch and a second one on the throw. That served justice, but made for some complicated coding.
· We’re convinced that the home-plate umpire overlooked a pitch. All of us in the press box were convinced that the batter had a count of 3 balls, 1 strike. The batter took a pitch and the umpire called it a ball, but the batter stayed put. Okay, it must have been a count of 2 balls, 2 strikes, and we missed a signal – except that the next pitch was called a strike and the batter still stayed put, with a 3-2 count. I was recording each pitch as it happened, and the others in the press box were paying attention, and we still don’t know what happened. Eventually the batter struck out.
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