25 SB's for Hairston?

[nsulham]

I actually kinda like Matos and think he COULD be a nice 20-20 surprise or at worst a 15-20 guy.

It's possible he could be one of those guys who has the tools and it's finally clicked for him.

[GotowarMissAgnes]

I wouldn't characterize Matos as an awesome young talent, but I don't think he's a dog either. It's very hard to interpret his minor league stats because the Orioles jerked him around like a friggin' puppet. I'd also so that the Orioles' minor league instruction during this time was absolutely horrible. Other than rookie ball, he never had a season where they just let him play a full season at one level. Starting in 2000, when he was just 21, he played at 3 or 4 levels every year.

If you look at his averages where he was given time to settle in (say where he had 200+ at bats at a level in a year), you'll see only one bad year back when he was a 20 year old playing AA ball. I think given some stability and good coaching, he's capable of batting .280-.290/10-15 HRs/15-25 SBs He's a decent balanced guy to have around and doesn't really hurt you in any category.

[tddf30]

He has a chance but u never know, how many times he will have the green light

[AuburnTigers]

He is a risk because of the playing time issue. I think its worth taking though....I say he steals 27 this year (thats a nice really random #)

[grammysboy]

The more I think about it, Roberts will probably get more AB's in CF than at 2b because Matos stinks. I think Hairston is a safe bet of getting 500 AB's and reaching those numbers, providing he hits leadoff when he and Roberts are both out there.

I would tend to agree. They didn't throw a new contract at his feet to have him platoon. Hairston will start, its his job to lose and I see him having a pretty solid year at the plate and with the glove.

.275 AVG, 8 HR, 85R, 45RBI, 30 SB

this is about where I have him penciled in, maybe 35 SB and only 6 HR.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

What about Mora? Anyone have any projections for him?

[GotowarMissAgnes]

What about Mora? Anyone have any projections for him?

Mora's numbers last year have fluke written all over them. I'm expecting 250-260/10-12/80-90/50-60/8-12 Keep in mind that Mora was on the DL for a long time with a hand injury from a HBP and then injured his MCL in September (no surgery). So, I think injury risk is another factor with him. Finally, while he's currently penciled in for leadoff, I'd doubt that's where he stays when he's slumping and batting .230 and Matos gets hot and is batting .320.