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If Bednar can lower his 9.69 ERA by then it’s a possibility.

Baseball America Five Early 90th Percentile Exit Velocity Standouts Thomas Sosa, OF, Orioles – EV 90 109.5 mph In 2023, Sosa impressed in his stateside debut with the Orioles Florida Complex League team, as the outfielder hit .290/.385/.492 with four home runs over 39 games. Making his full season debut in 2024, that success has not carried over for Sosa, as he’s currently hitting .232/.327/.354 over his first 26 games. While the slashline is unimpressive, Sosa’s underlying data is solid. While Sosa has fringe-average bat-to-ball skills and approach, his 109.5 mph 90th percentile EV is outstanding and nearly 10 mph above the average EV for a 19-year-old. Elevating the ball on his best contact has been a struggle at times this year for Sosa, as his 49.1% groundball rate is high. There are some warts on Sosa’s profile, but the easy plus raw power is so outlier that it makes the Orioles outfielder a name worth monitoring P.S. 3 of the others are top prospects. James Woods. Orelvis Martinez. Roman Anthony.

Has anyone ever said that you can learn to hit ML pitching in the minors?

That story kept getting worse and worse but I was expecting the clincher of all time bad experiences, that you didn’t get to the parking lot on time and had to Uber or Taxi and pick your car up this morning. You get chili at a ballgame? You’re a brave man.

I said it was a big if. You call moving Westburg or Holliday to CF insane but then you have Westburg as the short side of a platoon at 2B and giving Mayo and Gunnar rest days. That’s more insane. P.S. And you’ve also turned Holliday into a platoon player. Would you like to re-think this?

Right. Miller is the best closer in baseball right now. He has 6 years of service time. He has injury risk. If we had him no one would even want to trade him and if someone from another fan board made that offer there would be mass hysteria. If you have bases loaded and no outs and Miller comes in the game you don’t expect to score. That’s how good he looks right now.

So, if Mayo can play an average or better 3B and hit 30 bombs a year you’d prefer him where? And if Cowser plays CF who is your LF next year?

I had this discussion with @Bemorewins If, and it’s a big IF, Mayo is called up and plays a good 3B (average or better) AND hits that’s a good thing. Yes, it creates a lot of questions moving forward but we should hope this happens. If it does happen it gives Elias a lot of options and ONE of those options is converting Westburg or Holliday to CF with the other at 2B as soon as OD 2025. It’s not as crazy as it might sound. They both have the speed for the position and both have better arms than Cedric. Many SS (Westburg and Holliday have roots as SS) have been converted to CF before. Adam Jones. And most recently with the Padres taking their top SS prospect Jackson Merrill and doing it this year with great success.

It’s going to be very enjoyable to pull up this post if the Orioles call up Mayo to play 3B, move Westburg to 2B and start platooning Mateo with Mullins in CF. Long range I agree it’s doubtful they move Holliday to CF but stranger things have happened.

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He had a .784 OPS against RHP after July 1 last year. You can play with numbers a lot. What’s his OPS against RHP now after is 2-run homer off of Harvey last night?

That’s a joke of an offer for Miller. Potential long term answer at catcher? Mordan is a 20 yo DH, who catches, and has a sub .700 OPS in low A. Stowers is a 26 yo AAAA outfielder hitting .250 in AAA. Norby is a decent hitting prospect without a true position. That’s an embarrassing offer.

Miller is 2023 Felix Bautista with better control.

Haha. I did catch that DP comment with a man on second. I like her but it’s like they took someone who never watched a game and said “no problem, it’s easy, we’ll teach you”.

I would think of this as a loophole that teams and players were taking advantage of. Unless MLB gave this same warning three years ago I don’t think the Orioles violated any rules or should be subject to any penalties. This strikes me as MLB saying “It’s not against the letter of the law but we don’t like it. We know it’s going on. Don’t do it anymore or else.