Maryland and NCAA Sports

It remains to be seen.  I agree with the Tier 1 losers, those teams have no hope.  The rest of the group listed, some of those teams are playing to see exactly how far they are from their contention and if they should stay the course or blow it up.  For example, I don't peg the Nationals to be sellers, they've got some good young talent coming up and are firmly entrenched in their rebuild.  I think they should add to it, but I don't see them selling off anyone who they could have team control over for the next few years and identify as part of their rebuild.   I'm assuming Mason Miller would cost a high premium to pry away from the A's, but he'd slot in perfectly to be able to bridge to Kimbrel and maybe be a 1-2 closer combo with Bautista when he returns. Beeks from the Rockies. I'd be really focused on upgrading the bullpen.  I think the rotation has a chance to be solid.    

Understood. But even from that perspective, I would still say that Gunnar is worth investing in at that amount. The value to franchise of a true superstar player is worth more than 33 for a decade.  IMO the money to be made and the value that is added to the franchise from the winning, increased attendance/merch sales, added revenue from businesses investing in your suits, playoff revenue, etc; is worth the investment. Obviously you have to be careful with giving out these kinds of contracts. But the is literally NOTHING that I can see about Gunnar Henderson that says that he is not worth it. Given I don’t know him personally and do know about any potential things off the field that may be possible red flags. But assuming none of those exists, this is the kind of guy that you lock up! If the O’s/Rubenstein simply want to have a competitive team, you can cycle guys through, trade them at peak value, and continue the cycle of an ongoing rebuild of sorts. However, IMO that does not add value to your franchise in a significant way because history has shown that this kind of approach does not lead to a buzzing/blooming/expanding fanbase (i.e. the Rays, Guardians, etc).  But if Rubenstien wants to maximize the value /growth of his investment, you have to have and retain elite talent/superstar players WHILE you win.  My contention is that you are dealing with a more informed consumer than ever before in history (due to the internet) AND that same consumer has more entertainment options than ever. You HAVE to give that consumer a compelling reason to engage your product. Yes it requires when but people (especially the non-die hard and specifically younger fans connect by following other people). Institution loyalty is no longer binding enough that it can be relied upon to hold/retain the attention/interest of the average consumer. The movie industry found that out during the pandemic. When people in large part stopped going to theaters. Baseball at the end of the day is an entertainment business. And part of putting on the show is having people that the paying customer wants to see perform.

A lot of teams are pretty injured and have worse depth than us. I'm not saying that's the reason, but it's a reason to believe maybe we can maintain our offense throughout the season better than other teams. 

This is probably as close to clicking on all cylinders as most teams get.  In any given 24-game period, some guys will be up and others down.  We have 9 players with an OPS+ of 116 or higher.  The four guys you mentioned will have hotter periods, and someone else will be cold then.  That’s baseball.  But the ratio of hot players to cold ones is really good right now. 

I don’t see it.  Project guy.  Good upside but can’t see that in the first round. I think they go corner with the first pick unless someone unexpectedly drops. The assumption has been Oline but I think the draft is so deep and so many teams will be taking tackles that the Ravens will elect to wait until later in the draft to get Oline and WR help. Its not a deep corner draft, so getting one early makes sense. If they trade up, I wouldn’t think they trade anything higher than a 4th..could move up 3-6 spots. Trade back will likely get them a pick for next year.