Orioles in 1st place

Hopefully cionel Perez is back in the not too distant future as well, though with obliques you never know. I imagine Baumann would be the next one in line for a dfa.    I’d hope we’d dfa Ramirez before optioning two arms throwing better than Ramirez in Akin and Tate.    I can’t really see means going to the bp….his stuff isn’t especially suited to it. Though if Suarez is pitching THIS well you can’t move him to the pen either. Good problem to have, as you said. 

They definitely have the ammo to come back up into the first if someone is sitting there that they want.  I do think a tackle is a priority before camp starts one way or another. 

The Baysox are off to a 9-6 start mostly due to their bats, which lead the Eastern League with an .819 OPS and 5.87 runs per game.  They have no fewer than 7 players with an .800+ OPS: Bencosme (1.026), Bowen (.989), Beavers (.972), Fabian (.969), Pavalony (.919), Cook (.815) and Ardoin (.805).    The pitching has been unremarkable so far.   The highlight has been Kyle Brnovich, who’s sporting a 2.08 ERA, 0.923 WHIP, and 10.4 K/9 in three starts.  Brnovich had reached AAA before his TJ surgery in mid-2022, so I expect he’ll get promoted before long if he remains effective for Bowie.    

More wizardy!

You don’t downgrade Mayo because of the defense? Or do you think that the plus arm will allow him to play in RF?

I'd handicap it differently, even though Austin hit the ball more solidly the last week. After his 10-day stint on IL, I think there is perhaps a 85% chance he goes on rehab with the residual chance due to a gaping hole in the Orioles lineup/bench which has been exposed. Assuming he goes on some form of rehab assignment, there are at least 3 groups I'd offer as qualitatively different outcomes: 1. He goes on rehab for 5 days or less and either a hole/spot develops or he starts hitting right away 2. He goes on rehab for between 6 and 20 days (max rehab time for a position player) and the Orioles use much more, if not all of the shot clock before making a decision.  It could be a matter of Hays not hitting particularly well in the minors or the Orioles playing well with everyone healthy. 3. The club reaches the end of 20 days and uses the remaining option on Hays to leave him there because the O's don't have room given the set of quality OF/DH/1B they have and don't have an easy roster move to make.  The Orioles may be forced to trade him if this occurs, but I would not be shocked if he returns when an injury opens up a spot. Please let me know if you can think of any other possibilities that are not subsets of these 3 outcomes. If I am handicapping the 3 options, I'd say it's: Return to the big leagues immediately after 10 days: 15% Short rehab assignment (option 1): 50% Long rehab assignment (option 2): 25% Optioned after rehab (option 3): 10% Effectively, the Orioles will have already optioned Hays to the minors for a reset with option 2, but under the guise of the injury.   I'd like to hear from as many other posters as would care to handicap these 4 outcomes.  Simply post your percentages for each of the 4.     

I don’t know what Friedman or Stearns make. But I’m sure that will be the comp used by his agent. And whatever that number is I’m sure Rubenstein will work off of that to ensure that he stays running the Orioles for a long time.