For all the Mark Reynolds haters....

Since May 3 when his BA bottomed out at .168 he has hit .250 with an OPS over .920

He was adjusting to the new league and has been very good offensively. His defense has been atrocious but it should get better. He is a better fielder than what he has shown. He makes great plays that make you say "wow how did he make that play" and then he turns simple plays into errors. Its most likely all a mental thing and he is in a defensive funk. He should return to be a league average 3rd defensively in the 2nd half.

The pitching has been poor. Atleast the bullpen is starting to take shape, though. Having no Matusz really hurt the SP and when he returned he clearly was not himself and was either hiding and injury or just wasn't back to full strength. A friend of mine said when he pitched he had a similar injury in his back right below the shoulder, just like Matusz, and he said he felt he was fine and back healthy but he had lost about 5-6 MPH  on his fastball. He said ti took him another month or 2 to regain those MPHs.

Backs are a finicky body part. They dont heal as fast as other injuries. Matusz might not be back to form until the end of July. To make things worse Guthrie is probably as good as gone.

Its not bad in the sense the O's will get a good return for him but I would say there is a 85% chance Guthrie is traded and that will only hurt the rotation and SP even more.

jpero from one lifelong devote Oriole's fan to another and with all due respect Reynolds is never going to be the player he was acquired to be; e.g. other great players who are great notwithstanding any league they will play in Halladay...and the like.

Post Script: Buck will not be managing this team next year..too many erroneous picks during the offseason: 1) Lee (way past he prime and with a pronounced indifference to winning); 2) Guerrero (on the wrong team for sure); and Reynolds..he has lost control of this team and is better off in the broadcast booth.

No doubt Matusz is a stud and there IS definitely something not 100% right with him; he will recover.

I wonder how long we'll be hearing this comparison.

Mitch Atkins. Simply a spot starter?

Then for God's sake call your best pitcher back up from AAA. I heard enough of this shit all winter.
 
There was also a statement about Mark Reynolds where you said the switch from a pitchers park to a hitters park would do him a lot of good. Two questions my man. 1. Since when is Chase Field a pitcher's park? 2. WTF does the park have to do with strikeouts? Bring the fences in to 200 feet, you still don't clear them. Maybe next year, but give it up for now.

19 homers so far ..... wouldn't want to bash that ....

Mark reynolds is on pace for 170 k not 200.

Secondly I said he was moving from a division with pitchers parks in san diego and dodgers to a division with some if the most offensive parks. I also said I expected the strikeouts to come down seeing the NL west has some if the most prolific strikeout pitchers in the mlb.

Reynolds is performing just as I said he would offensively. He has underperformed defensively