masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgManager Buck Showalter is aware of Mark Reynolds’ low batting average this year. He’s also aware of Reynolds’ obscene strikeout totals.

He doesn’t seem to care.

“You can find negatives on every player,” he said. “I understand where Mark’s history is. He would have led our club in home runs, RBIs, runs scored, walks, a lot of categories. That’s just something we don’t have. We’re not going to beat him up on the negatives.

“We dwell on the positive things that he brings. He brings…Manager Buck Showalter is aware of Mark Reynolds’ low batting average this year. He’s also aware of Reynolds’ obscene strikeout totals.

He doesn’t seem to care.

“You can find negatives on every player,” he said. “I understand where Mark’s history is. He would have led our club in home runs, RBIs, runs scored, walks, a lot of categories. That’s just something we don’t have. We’re not going to beat him up on the negatives.

“We dwell on the positive things that he brings. He brings some things that we don’t have. It was pretty obvious last year that our lineup depth there was a little challenged in certain places.

“You can talk about the negatives on every player. And managers, coaches…we all have them. And keep in mind this guy is 27 years old.”

Mark-Reynolds_Dbacks-Wide.gif

Update: I should mention that the Orioles also will receive a PTBNL or cash from the Diamondbacks. Chad Bradford’s name hasn’t come up.

Here’s an extra quote from Andy MacPhail: “The currency that the Baltimore Orioles have that is the most valuable are some of our young players and in particular some of our pitchers. It was becoming apparent to us that we were going to have to use that currency to get other things we needed.”

Here’s another one from Showalter: “The challenge is pretty obvious that we had to improve offensively. At the same time, we don’t feel that we have sacrificed anything defensively, and that was a key component of this deal is where Mark was as a defender at 27 years old, and obviously the health factor. And like Andy said, we gave up two young arms that were tough to part with, and obviously Arizona did their work in picking the right people. At the end of the day, we feel we are a better offensive club. There is evidence where this guy would have ranked for us offensively. I don’t know if that is a reflection on him or a reflection on what we have had. We’ll find out.”