TheOtherRipken

Been the rule on here as long as I remember, and I’ve been here years. You want a site about Orioles discussion to devolve into political disputes? That kind of defeats the entire purpose.

How about you come explain your views about the disease to my wife and best friend who work on Covid wards? I thought OH was not about politics, in fact, I’ve been warned for that very reason on this site. I’m sorry man, I’ve defended you every step of the way but even if you own this site, its not your political platform, and a more calmed down/ level headed version of Tony would agree with that statement. You can go ahead and ban me if you want, but honestly I expect better from you and am dissapointed.

Other problems - ensuring social distancing for entry points and tunnels, accessibility (elevator, escalator if needed), bathrooms, plus anyone who goes to stadium has to deal with the fact that people in this world really don't care and will let their kids run wild and cough in your face. I'm not trying to be jaded here just what I've seen in public. Anecdotally, my wife wore a mask and went to a local Starbucks recently, an employee was not wearing a mask, was coughing, and then called out sick (all in a span of 5 minutes). Needless to say my wife got out of there fast, but it really puts into perspective how little people care about others with this type of stuff. Its scary and unbelievable. Anyways I'll get off my soapbox, I hope you are staying safe WillyM.

I think Spring Training cuts will be telling - some interesting players typically leak through during that time. To OPs point I would really rather us take a stab at some younger or fringe guys.

The only logical reasons for returning the rule vs: 1) they have late spring cuts they want flexibility to grab 2) they want those roster spots to be able to use them as waiver wire tryout spots throughout the season I haven’t seen a single positive development that would indicate this team would be ready to compete next year. If they don’t look better by 2022 thats a major problem though.

You aren't wrong about that the bullpen overtaxed was a factor, but I’m not sure how their starting rotation got better. To your latter point Armstrong hasn’t looked like much so far and Elias has barely added anyone else this offseason. I think lack of depth and talent in that depth is a major factor too. If/when Givens gets traded that depth gets even worse. I don’t know, I appreciate your optimism, but I think efforts to improve the bullpen border on terrible, and watching the bullpen implode last year was painful.

Kind of disappointed to see this but only because last season the Orioles bullpen was literally unwatchable, and I’m not sure what Elias has done to improve it. Maybe Elias should hire DD back as a dumpster diving bullpen builder.

I like the concept of a 1-30 but I agree, most rankings focus on top prospects, it would be nice if some lists considered depth more and backwards looking successes. However realistically the national writers only “see” a small handful of players in person regularly. I do wonder how deep they really go and on what data to determine their rankings.

I can’t ultimately disagree with Law taking a hard approach against the O’s farm system. This is a prove it year to see if development advances and changes are starting to work. Similarly we cannot mess up the draft this year. I think its up to the O’s to prove him wrong.

Other than some defensive upgrades what gives you optimism for improvement? With Bleier perhaps being heathy, but what do you see on Castro and Givens? They seem to be more inconsistent year over year.

Schoop and Chron, certainly not world beaters but for sure an improvement on what they were putting out there.

The worst of the worst for sure. The Tigers made at least a few moves to try to improve, O’s really didn’t. Worst bullpen and an offense where Villar is now subtracted. The only chance we have to improve is some young guys going crazy, and I don’t see it. I also don’t see a repeat season for Hanser Alberto at that level of production. I think we are the team to “beat” to #1 pick and its pretty clear thats what Elias set up the team to achieve.

I do believe the punishment for the organization is fair, and voted as such on the poll, but the players got off entirely which makes no sense. How can the league punish individual players for PEDs but not this?

I remember when the line wrapped around the stadium over an hour before the game to get a Crush Davis jersey. I can’t blame him for trying to recapture his legacy, but also can’t forget the last two seasons where Geronimo Gil would have been more productive at 1st.

Using your powers, how will he do this year?