Home Run Hunter

[varaven45]

Can anyone explain why Buck continues to hang with Home Run Hunter in meaningful, clutch moments in games.

 

A couple of years ago I bumped into a few Os fans during Spring break in Fla. One of them kept referring to Tommy as Home Run Hunter and I hadn't quite understood.

 

Tommy helped me remember tonight.

[Robjr83]

I've heard of "heart attack Hunter" for his love of loading bases. This team's in trouble.

[cravnravn]

Where we could of resigned Andrew Miller and had a strong middle man

[varaven45]

Yeah we certainly yakked that game from the jaws of victory. I've decided that unless we're winning or losing by 10 runs, and Buck puts Hunter in, i'm turning off the game .

[GrubberRaven]

7 games in guys...7 games in...yeesh...

[varaven45]

Good point- it's not even the equivalent of 1 game in an NFL season. But the subject is Hunter and the guy is lethal, a 1 man wrecking crew, and has been for a couple of years. Buck can't afford to put the guy in meaningful situations. That's it.

[dc.]

Hunter has not been that bad. In fact, he got the worst of his rep last year - when he started as closer and struggled. People just think it's been so much longer than that. It hasn't. He is certainly a pain now.

 

Meanwhile, it's only 7 (now 8) games. The Jays are a good team. The Yanks are not great but you'll play the occasional slugfest. Snider's error didn't help either.

 

And would everyone love to have Andrew Miller? Of course. I'd love Andrew Miller, Rivera in his prime, Britton, Wade Davis... But if you think we had 12m a year to give to a set-up man, you're crazy. We just don't have that cash. We couldn't compete with that. So it goes. By comparison, O'Day is making about $3m this year. Is Miller worth 4 O'Days? Would having Miller be worth giving up O'Day? It would put him on par with Adam Jones - top 3 salaries on the team. Is that where he ranks as a 1-inning per game guy to put IN FRONT of Britton?

 

Moving on. We'll be fine.

[dc.]

Hunter.

 

On June 15 last year, in the midst of his worst stretch with the O's, he gave up 2 runs and raised his season ERA to 6.50.

 

From June 15 to season end... he pitched to a 1.30 ERA in 41+ innings. Opponents batted .188 against him. He walked 4 batters in 40+ innings (less than 1 per 9, which is stellar). He ended the season with a 2.97 ERA even after his rough start.

 

In 2013, he pitched to a 2.81 ERA and WHIP UNDER 1.00. Outstanding numbers. Which is why he was given the closer's role in 2014 to start the year.

 

But hard to shake the image people have once it's created and embedded.

[GrubberRaven]

Short term memory