GroverCleveland

I think passing on Martin will be one of those decisions that haunts the Orioles for years to come, especially since he was drafted by a division rival

Just yet another indication that we just drafted a very special player. No matter how this draft turns out, I’m convinced that Elias did the right thing. Kudos to Adley as the #1 Overall Pick!

AR... just as I said. As it should be. Great pick, Elias!!

16 more minutes !!

In most other drafts, I would agree with you wholeheartedly on this point. But in THIS draft, there is a player who stands head and shoulders above the rest. I just heard that 25 of the 30 teams rank him #1. No Executive, no matter how smart or analytic, wants to look stupid. This is an inflection point in Elias’s tenure. I’ll say it again: I will be absolutely shocked if we don’t take AR.

Thanks! I’ll be posting here more often ... but for now, couldn’t hold back.... it’s Rutschman... it absolutely has to be..

It won’t be Witt. I think we take Rutschman, and I’ll tell you why. Never mind that AR is the consensus best player in the draft. And never mind that scouts are saying that he’s the best player in an MLB draft for the past several years. If Elias passes on AR, and he quickly becomes the superstar that the world expects him to be, Elias will look like the biggest dope ever to run a baseball team. It’s easy to overthink this. You win with superstars. Elias knows this. And Rutschman has the best probability of becoming that. I will be SHOCKED if we don’t take Rutschman.

While Mike Leake has not been discussed as a Top-5 talent in this draft, he is very quietly having a great season. For example, he struck out 15 batters this past weekend (Source). I especially liked what they wrote about his "poise" within his MLB Draft scouting report. Is this a case where a player will fall because he is not 6'5 and/or does not meet another attribute of a prototypical pitching mold? Or does Leake have a legitimate shot at rising to the top 5 within the draft... To be sure, I don't think there's any way that he could possibly fall to 2:5 (barring injury).

I would argue that a winning record (in a given year) is not the criteria by which we should judge MacPhail. Rather, we should judge MacPhail on whether or not he has established the foundation of a ballclub that can have MULTIPLE consecutive seasons of winning records. This reflects a successful GM. At this point, all indications point to MacPhail's desire to set a real foundation for multiple seasons of contention. Thus, I think he's made all the right moves up to this point.