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2. The Other Baby Birds We get it, Orioles: You’ve got talent. Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, and Jackson Holliday are consensus top prospects from three consecutive years, which is ridiculous when you stop and think about it. They’re slam dunk great hitters, all of them. They even have the same flowing golden locks and questionable facial hair choices. (In Henderson’s defense, his mustache is allegedly only still around because he broke out when shaving it off.) The future of the Orioles is a great baseball club that looks like a prep school lacrosse team. Plot twist: Those guys have been a mixed bag so far this year. Henderson is mashing, to the tune of a 171 wRC+, but Rutschman hasn’t found his power stroke yet; he checks in at a disappointing 106 wRC+. Holliday got a late start, and he’s still searching for his first extra-base hit. In aggregate, the three have put up a 110 wRC+, not what you’d hope for from a trio of franchise saviors. Not to worry, though. The other prospects the Orioles have amassed in recent years are more than picking up the slack. Michael Baumann — our Michael Baumann, not Baltimore’s — already covered Colton Cowser’s hot start, with the 250 wRC+ and homers to parts of the stadium that no one was even sure existed. But that might undersell how outrageously fun his start has been. The nicknames are coming in hot and heavy. Fans are already calling him “The Milkman.” The Camden Yards faithful moo every time he comes to the plate. “They’re not booing, they’re saying (word)” is a pretty common sports trope, but “They’re not booing, they’re mooing” is definitely a new one for me. Cow masks at the stadium are just par for the course now: Cowser might be turning fans into cow people, but another O’s youngster is breaking out just as much at the same time. Jordan Westburg isn’t a rookie – he played half a season last year and looked like a steady contributor. He’s off to nearly as hot of a start as Cowser, though, and he’s doing it in huge spots. He keeps coming up with runners on base, and he keeps racking up extra bases and RBI. Is his start sustainable? Probably not. It’s hard to run a .349 BABIP, hard to have as many extra-base hits as singles, hard to barrel 12.5% of your batted balls and make hard contact 62.5% of the time without huge raw power. But his approach looks legit, and it’s not like he’s hitting those doubles and home runs by accident. He has a solid approach and a fly ball swing. The stadium isn’t a plus for him given the bite out of the left field fence, but he looks like a nice everyday contributor at worst, and I’m willing to dream on a little more than that. He can also handle second and third defensively, which suits Baltimore’s roster quite well. That doesn’t even mention Coby Mayo and Heston Kjerstad, who are absolutely annihilating Triple-A at the moment. Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers have started hot. Yes, the O’s are headlined by their flaxen-haired top trio, but there are more reinforcements waiting in the wings, and the other birds are helping to drive the offense right now. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/five-things-i-liked-or-didnt-like-this-week-april-19/ -
By Aristotelian · Posted
Kremer pitched well. Not super dominant or anything but well enough to win the game. If Akin gets the third out, he leaves with 5.2 IP and 1 ER and nobody would complain. He was in the zone all night and did well to get a huge out on Perez after the blown call on the Witt walk. -
Also, the 3-2 pitch to Witt that was called ball four for the first walk had been called a strike all night. In fact, far worse pitches had been called strikes, especially for the Royals’ pitchers. And were called strikes afterwards.
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I don’t think they need to be only for homegrown guys. Just the right guys! I think Burnes is a right guy. Now if we can’t extend him before he hits free agency and he gets 10 year 30 million per from someone you have to walk away. Id try an extension that has a higher AAV but a shorter term. Say you expect him to get $30 per for 10 in free agency. Then give him 7 years and perhaps an opt out after 4. -
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By Billy F-Face3 · Posted
Yeah I was hopeful for him but after seeing last night (where it all caught up to him) I just don't think he has the stuff any more. He used to have an excellent 2 seamer with good velocity and arm side run but that doesn't seem to exist anymore with the velocity drop. -
By Sports Guy · Posted
Well I was just a peon when I worked there, so it’s not like that experience mattered in my decision. And my view on extensions isn’t you are paying for past years. Hell, I would sign Holliday today and Gunnar is only a year into things. The issue with the extensions is that you are already have the player(s) locked up for most of the years anyway. So, when you sign them to an extension, you are guaranteeing 7-9 years but really all you are gaining is 2-3 years. It’s a lot of money and guarantees for only a few years. Now, the one thing that I have talked about that is important here is if you don’t extend them, do you look to trade them 1-2 years away from free agency because you don’t want to lose a talent like Gunnar, for example, for nothing. So, maybe the extension buys you a few additional years on top of what are already getting. OTOH, you may just decide to go for it with the player and lose them for nothing. I guess you always have the option of going the Tatis route and go 14-15 years but I’m not sure of anyone who is advocating for that or would be ok with that. As for your business decision point here..I think that’s probably the biggest reason you do it…because players like the commitment and the fans like the commitment and there is value to that.
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