What Reimold at 1st would mean for The O’s

The Baltimore Sun reported yesterday that Nolan Reimold took some grounders at 1st.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bal-osnotes0403,0,4461122.story

I will take Andy MacPhail at his word, that people should not be reading too much into this. Still, it can not be ignored either.

The defensive metrics showed Reimold to be a poor LF last-year. My own-take has been that the metrics were somewhat wrong. Playing with his Achilles injury, Reimold still had the foot-speed to cover decent ground, and a very strong-arm. While he did not always take great routes on the ball, or appear ‘natural’, it should be remembered that the O’s had Reimold playing in RF at Bowie during 2008.

As we said at the time, Reimold was never going to come-up and replace Markakis in the O’s outfield – so he should have been spending as much time as possible in LF.

Reimold is a good athlete, and he hustles. Combine that with his arm, and I believe he has the capability of being a league average LF. The problem with that, is that if Reimold plays everyday in LF; it relegates Felix Pie to the bench – and Pie has the ability to be an outstanding defensive LF.

Due to that, there have been a number of people (myself included) that spent months arguing the O’s should have gone into 2010 moving Reimold to either DH, or to 1st.

MacPhail can state not to read too much into Reimold taking grounders, but I think this is admission from the O’s that they agree the everyday lineup is going to need to include both Pie, and Reimold at some point this year.

Some would ask, if the O’s had any interest in Reimold at 1st – why did they not have him working there all of Spring? I think the answer to that is two-fold. First, I think they had convinced themselves that Reimold was the answer in LF, and were unsold on Pie. Second, if they had planned on giving Reimold time at 1st during the Spring; that plan ended when it became clear he was still dealing with the rehab of his leg. i.e. the most important thing about Reimold’s game is his bat, and they wanted him to focus first on getting healthy / being ready for Opening Day – as opposed to having him also learning a new position.

Now that he has raked this last-week of camp, they let him get a few grounders to increase the flexibility of the roster.

In the immediate picture, the wild-card at play is what internal impressions has Atkins made on the organization? Are they committed to giving him 200-250 at-bats and seeing if they can get him producing? Or, will he be on a shorter-lease?

Tom Davis of 1300 AM / 105.7 FM / MASN has found it comical every-time it has been suggested that Reimold could become a 1st-baseman. I have never understood that opinion. I agree with the notion that not every player can just be moved to 1st and perform. There is positioning, and foot-work to be accounted for, and some players just do not have that capability.

However, the fact that some players could not be capable of that switch, has never been a reason to discount the chance that Reimold could be. He has the proto-typical height at 6’4. He runs well, and has strong athleticism. You see him hustling down the line, or running into the alleys; and you do no think he could learn the foot-work necessary at 1st? If the 26 year-old committed to the position, he would flourish there. The O’s should continue to give him grounders on a daily basis.

I would expect some to ask, “If Reimold were to take over 1st, what does that mean for Snyder long-term?” The answer is that it would give you options. To me the best case scenario would than be Snyder eventually replacing Scott at DH, with Scott moved elsewhere as part of a package. Of course the inverse could also be possible with Snyder being the one moved somewhere.

2011 O’s?
Roberts 2nd
Snyder DH
Markakis RF
Wieters C
Jones CF
Reimold 1st
Bell 3rd
Pie LF
SS

If Reimold takes over 1st, Pie becomes the long-term answer in LF, and Bell and Snyder get introduced to the everyday lineup at 3rd, and DH; the only place in the lineup in question for the forseeable future becomes SS.

With only 1 position to address, you suddenly have the organizational depth necessary to pull off a larger move to fill that need.