Tony-OH

BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Yes, those 12 extra PAs certainly developed him into the major league ready players he wasn't out of spring training. If you are going to be unreasonable, I'm going to keep calling you out. You are way too smart for any of these takes. Elias can make mistakes. I love him, think he's fantastic overall, but when crap don't make sense, I'm going to say it doesn't make sense and not just try and agree with everything he does.

I'd laugh, but there are at least three posters in this thread who would tell you that's true if Elias said it.

Good Lord man. TAKE A DEEP BREATH and don't think you have to personally go on crusade to defend Elias IN EVERYTHING HE DOES. Signing Kemp was dumb. It was unnecessary. They had Maton and for the little bit they used Kemp they could have used Maton. Now who cares if they spend $300k ish more than major league minimum, it was a dumb unnecessary move that made little sense when it happened. The fact that it appears that Holliday is not going to be down for any length, and signing Kemp makes even less sense. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.

You can't possibly believe less than 15 PAs against lefties changed anything, can you?

I know you like to give Elias the benefit of the doubt in all of his moves, and while I agree with you that avoiding the glut of lefties was probably the primary reason, the fact that they Orioles would gain an extra year in a what, four more days seems like it was all for nothing. Now, maybe Westburg is hurt an that forced their hand a bit, but 4 more days. Why even waste a $1million on Kemp when they had Maton to hold the fort for a few weeks? None of this really makes a ton of sense overall. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see Holliday up where he belonged in the first place. I mean, maybe seeing Kemp start in Boston was enough of a wakeup call. Perhaps Westburg has an injury that is going to have him out for a bit? It all just seems odd. Not "Oh my God, Elias doesn't know what he's doing odd" but odd none the less.

The point is not that Adley is a bad player, which is EXACTLY why I said he's very good hitter, but I think we all expected more power.

Burnes at just 69 pitched through 5, so hopefully he can get us 7 today to limit the bullpen need. But we need runs.

I like Adley, and think he's a very good hitter with getting on base. BUUTTT, I'm starting to have concerns over his lack of power. He starting to become Joe Mauer.

The top of this order is doing squat once again. Tough to win when these guys have all gone cold.

You really are making calls on 20 some spring training PAs? Seems like a poor way to operate. This entire last man on the roster is just holding a place until Holliday can be brought up.

Kemp hasn't played an inning in CF since 2019. Cowser is the backup for Mullins.

Maton is slashing .357/.500/.571/1.071 in Norfolk. Why they DFA'd him and then wasted $1 million on Kemp is beyond me.

Hey what do you know, maybe Cowser wasn't such a bum that some people believed after last season's MLB time. Amazing what regular playing time can do as well.

Guy is struggling with command and Urias swings at the first pitch and pops up.

There we go, Cowser!

Bello losing the command little bit here.

It would be nice for the offense to get it going early to relieve some of the pressure.

Didn't they know already they had OD ceremonies?

The fact that they think he's ready to pitch in a minor league rehab game is significant in my opinion. That tells me he's tested it out already and has been able to throw full force with no pain. Fingers crossed he can be back by May sometime.

I don't know if he let the pressure get to him defensively, but he has been pretty bad so far at both 3B and even in two games at 1B were not great.

There is no way any player is not going to try and win the game when they have a chance. A good throw there and the game is over and they win. I don't fault him at all for trying to make that play.

I don't have a concern at all. He's only struck out at a 15.7% rate and has 21.6% walk rate. I think what Holliday does is let it rip earlier in counts and then he's buttons that up with two strikes. He takes really good PAs.

So let's look at a probable scenario with Basallo. He hits well at Bowie, enough to get promoted in July. He ends up with 180 PAs in AAA and puts up Mayo like numbers in his first taste of AAA. Unless a trade happens, the Orioles will still have (Let's assume Hays, Santander and O'Hearn are not here though if O'Hearn puts up a good season, who knows) Cowser, Stowers, Kjerstad, and Norby all needing PAs between RF, LF, and DH. Rutschman still needs to DH some as well. Now, could the Orioles decide to give Basallo the Holliday treatment and send him down for a month and then let him debut, sure, that's very possible so 2025 debut is certainly scenario that could happen. Now, Basallo could also be treated like Mayo though and basically given 500 PAs or so at Bowie which would mean he'd be there most of the season with maybe a taste of AAA by the end of the year. If that happens, 2025 will be at AAA and then he could possibly get the Henderson treatment and get brought up late in 2025 so he retains his rookie status for 2026 when he would make opening day as the backup catcher, DH and occasional 1B. Now all of this is predicated on Basallo continuing to breakthrough like he did last year again this year. He's certainly capable but we still don't know until he does it.

Wait, you think he'll debut at DH in 2024? I mean, sure, if O'Hearn, Kjerstad, Stowers, Norby and Mayo all get hurt, sure, he's got a chance.

And I think that's the plan overall, even though I don't know how much they will bring it in. My biggest issue with the wall is it was definitely moved back too far, and I hate they had to raise the wall height to where the outfielders couldn't make those jumping catches into the stands. That was half the charm of the previous left field.