Looking beyond "the big 3"

[Sports Guy]

The Orioles have 3 very good prospects, we all know that.

After those 3, the team has a lot of intriguing players but no one you would say is some great prospect.

My guess is that every team in the majors has several players where you can say, if he develops this pitch or has better command or develops a better approach at the plate, etc...that so and so could become a very good to great prospect.

The Orioles have those guys too.

My question is this....If all teams have players like that, do the Orioles have players that are more likely to become solid ML contributors or are all of these guys basically the same throughout baseball and you just have to get lucky?

[allstar1579]

The Orioles have 3 very good prospects, we all know that.

After those 3, the team has a lot of intriguing players but no one you would say is some great prospect.

My guess is that every team in the majors has several players where you can say, if he develops this pitch or has better command or develops a better approach at the plate, etc...that so and so could become a very good to great prospect.

The Orioles have those guys too.

My question is this....If all teams have players like that, do the Orioles have players that are more likely to become solid ML contributors or are all of these guys basically the same throughout baseball and you just have to get lucky?

Birdwell, Delmonico, Esposito, and some of the real young arms down the line (Rodriquez etc.) are the guys to keep an eye on right now, they are sitting right at the point of going from every org. has one prospect to a real legit top prospect. This season is going to be really big for our minor league development at almost all levels.

I encourage people to boycott the moronic team at the top and go see your local O's affiliate if you want to see some real interesting baseball.

[Frobby]

I think the O's have to get a little lucky, or at least, do a very good job of developing the guys they have in the system. Hopefully the installation of Peterson and Boulanger and other changes are going to improve our player development, but I don't know if it will happen that quickly.

[Sports Guy]

Birdwell, Delmonico, Esposito, and some of the real young arms down the line (Rodriquez etc.) are the guys to keep an eye on right now, they are sitting right at the point of going from every org. has one prospect to a real legit top prospect. This season is going to be really big for our minor league development at almost all levels.

I encourage people to boycott the moronic team at the top and go see your local O's affiliate if you want to see some real interesting baseball.

Yea, I agree that those 3 are guys to really keep an eye on this offseason.

But what about the college pitchers they took in the draft. Dime a dozen guys?

I guess what i am getting at here is do the Orioles have the upside in the organization that could vault them higher...and is that upside any different from many of the other teams?

[allstar1579]

Yea, I agree that those 3 are guys to really keep an eye on this offseason.

But what about the college pitchers they took in the draft. Dime a dozen guys?

I guess what i am getting at here is do the Orioles have the upside in the organization that could vault them higher...and is that upside any different from many of the other teams?

All RP for me. I said that at the time of the draft, it's a much cheaper way to get quality RP than paying $6m per year for them, and if they did it so they could afford Machado and Delmonico, I get that idea, BUT they should be throwing money around wherever they can, and since that is gone now, they are worse for it. They could have had AJ Cole who was part of getting Gio Gonzalez. They could have had Purke, who knows what he ends up as though. There are a number of guys all it took was a little bit of money, and they went the cheap way instead. Sano is another one I remember arguing for, take the gamble. What would you rather have Mike Gonzalez for 1.5 losing seasons or Sano and Cole under control for 6 years.

Sorry...venting over.

[jabba72]

All RP for me. I said that at the time of the draft, it's a much cheaper way to get quality RP than paying $6m per year for them, and if they did it so they could afford Machado and Delmonico, I get that idea, BUT they should be throwing money around wherever they can, and since that is gone now, they are worse for it. They could have had AJ Cole who was part of getting Gio Gonzalez. They could have had Purke, who knows what he ends up as though. There are a number of guys all it took was a little bit of money, and they went the cheap way instead. Sano is another one I remember arguing for, take the gamble. What would you rather have Mike Gonzalez for 1.5 losing seasons or Sano and Cole under control for 6 years.

Sorry...venting over.

Yup. You either want to improve the team or you dont. Signing Hobgood and Givens with the 1st two picks in '09 looked to me like they were trying to save and go overslot on a few picks later in the draft. That worked out disasterously so far. Sano is another sore spot since everyone that scouted him in the Orioles said he should eventually have a major league bat. Some say the O's offer was close to what Sano signed but I have my doubts. I mean, if you cant beat out the Twins for a player you supposedly like, then you need to let someone else take over. Luckily MacPhail basically has done that.