A good number of folks in Baltimore are already missing Mark Reynolds, but probably not nearly as much as J.J. Hardy. At a charity event on Tuesday, Hardy spoke candidly about Reynolds’ departure and his disappointment in the team’s decision to let him walk.
“He wanted to come back,” Hardy said according to MASNSports.com’s Roch Kubatko. “The thing is, I think he would have signed for less money to come back here. It will be interesting to see what happens. I think we’ll all miss him, for sure.”
Defensively, he’s right. Reynolds played Gold Glove caliber first base according to Hardy.
“I’ve talked to him, not as much since he signed with them, but I was talking to him a lot before that. There were a lot of teams showing interest in him. And I still thought there was a chance we’d get him back.”
Dan Duquette said the Orioles liked Reynolds, but weren’t big fans of his contract. Hardy seems to think he would’ve taken a discount to remain with the O’s. He signed a one-year, $6 million deal. I’m not sure how much less he really could have taken.
6 millions for .225 .. and three good weeks offensively .. thanks, but no thanks. I enjoyed his good moments and certainly loved the defense while he was there, but seeing him wiff in crucial moment time and time again was enough. I’d do that for 500k.
I am very disappointed that they did not resign him. Same old cheap Orioles. They really need to upgrade. Going into the season with Betemit and Brian Roberts as starters is unacceptable to me.
If they really need to upgrade over Mark Reynolds, I’m fairly certain that means they probably shouldn’t have resigned Mark Reynolds…
Why are we pining over a guy that reached 100 strike outs faster than any player in MLB history, and then broke his own record when he hit 200? Yes, he hit against New York well towards the end of the year. He was terrible at 3B and we had a good band-aid in him at 1B… but there are better first basemen/hitter combos out there (Chris Davis). Yes, this is a very “what have you done for me lately” league, but the guy’s career numbers just don’t stack up.
Was Reynolds going to give a discount everytime he struck out? OK, $1000 for every strike out, $5k everytime with a man on base, $5k with RISP and $25k everytime with the bases jammed. Damn, he would owe the Orioles $75k. Too many strikeouts and not enough contact. Sorry Mark…you have to go.
JJ should think about standing closer to the plate and making more contact next year. He should also relax his hands more, he holds the bat too tight through the strike zone. That is what Hardy should be thinking about!