Tony-OH

Elias is very sharp no doubt. His ability to communicate to the press over his previous comments like, "Lift off" and now the Holliday comments is really well done. Basically he's saying they were only going to make it with injuries. Again, the service manipulation makes sense in the long run. Would we all prefer to see Holliday and Mayo in the lineup, sure, but I'd rather see them in Orioles uniforms in 2030 for sure if that means a few weeks or so more in the minors.

Elias very well may keep Holliday down longer than the short amount of time needed to gain an extra year, but make no mistake, Mayo and Holliday are ready even if Holliday may still very well need to improve against left-handed pitching. Mayo just didn't have a spot unless he was willing to DH him, but Elias seems to want O'Hearn in that role against righties. Honestly, the service manipulation makes sense. Getting a whole season of control for a few weeks of them being in the minors (or more if the team is winning and there's not a need) with legitimate big leaguers already in place makes sense. I don't think Mayo or Holliday had any real chance of making the team this spring unless an injury or trade occurred. The only question is when will they get their shots?

At least Wong is cheap and can be DFA'd easier than an $8 million Frazier.

Wong allows the Orioles to rest Westburg and Urias without needing Mateo (another RHB) to come in and play 2B. Mateo can be the backup CF against a tough lefty if needed though I expect Cowser to be given opportunities in CF as well.

I'm hopeful Bradish will be recovered and back to pitching in the rotation by the second half. However, the longer this goes on, the more time he would miss in 2025 if something does go bad and he ends up needed TJ surgery. the worse case scenario is he tried this rehab, get ready to pitch in July, blows it out, then he out most of 2025 as well. I don't know the grade of strain nor do I know what they should do, but just thinking of the best and worse case scenarios. I hope it works out.

This may be your best post since your Ambien classic post!

Haha, no way that happens unless it's for a particular matchup. Westburg and Urias will be the starters on the vast majority or games.

Exactly what I would expect him to say.

So here is what we know from Elias sending both Mayo and Holliday back to AAA. He's going to always play the long game with control as long as gaining an extra year of control only costs him a few weeks or a month. The players really screwed the pooch when they didn't really fight this aspect out very far. From a fan standpoint, it's obviously disappointing right now, but when Mayo and Holliday are playing for the Orioles in 2030 i think the fans will be happy he sacrificed a few weeks or maybe a month. Both showed they were ready for the major league this spring so we now know barring injury, they were never going to make the team. I suspect with Westburg and Urias at 2B and 3B, Wong or Maton will get the last spot in the infield since they bat let-handed. Let's hope the Orioles can do well early on with lesser players playing and with 2 or their original five starting pitchers out.

Gotcha, I didn't have time. Just wanted use a good Wong pun.

Apparently he realized he picked the Wong team to try to get a roster spot on! I do think this is a pretty good indicator that Holliday will make the team.

They finally started to allow fans to have access to sortable statcast information from the 2023 season. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/statcast-search-minors?_gl=1*r9c4ya*_gcl_au*MTQ3NzkxMDM4NC4xNzA0Mjk4MjQy Lots of interesting things to garner out of this. I'll have more on this later. I'm hoping they expand the statcast info to lower levels. this year.

Unless you already know one or both have made the team.

Agreed, which is why I said he's the one they needed to upgrade. Burnes is that upgrade IF Bradish eventually is able to come back and is the Bradish of 2023.

Henderson hasn't played a an inning at 3B this spring from what I've seen. I don't think the Orioles plan to move him around this year barring an injury.

First I was thinking nope, but then I started thinking, is it Urias that could go and keep O'Hearn? Mayo could still start at DH and then play 3B, with Westburg going to 2B against tough lefties. The question is when Adley needs to DH, does Mayo give Westburg or Mountcastle a day off? O' Hearn would be a better bat off the bench than Urias and Mateo played a decent amount of 2B this spring so they could very well think he could play there if needed as well.

I doubt anyone is giving up anything of value for either of these guys. the other thing is that the Orioles may already know what their 26-man roster is going to be and are keeping guys fresh for the season.

They could potentially say he needs to work on hitting left-handers too.

Although it's very hard to judge by the Orioles spring training lineups due to them moving guys around so much, I do agree that it seems strange for Holliday not to be working with Henderson this late in camp.

Let me make it clear, I don't think this is going to happen, especially since they seem to want O' Hearn on the team. I'm just saying this is HOW you COULD do it and make it make some sense. I don't know how you look Mayo in the eyes and tell him Holliday is making the team and he's not. He's older, has more experienced, and has kind of "earned" his look first, but I do think Holliday is making the team unless they are going for long term control.

I don't know what Elias is going to do with this roster since both Holliday and Mayo look ready for the majors. I do know if Holliday is sent back, it's only to gain service time as it's blatantly obvious he's ready for the major leagues, something I would not have said at the end of last season. I would be surprised if he's not the opening day 2B. Now how does Mayo still make the club? The only way I see is if the Orioles option Ryan O'Hearn and keep Mayo as the DH/1B/3B option. It's a little weird because both Westburg and Mountcastle are right-handed hitters and the Orioles would prefer a left-handed hitting option there, but let's look at that potential lineup. 2B: Holliday - L C - Rutschman - S SS: Henderson - L DH: Mayo - R RF: Santander - S 1B: Mountcastle - R LF: Hays - R CF: Mullins - L 3B: Westburg - R Pretty balanced overall. The bench would be: McCann - C - R Mateo - Utility - R Urias - Utility - R Cowser - OF - L

I don't think this is necessarily true. Bradish pitched well, the moment was just too big for Grayson at this point in his career, and the Texas offense was just white hot and demolished Kremer. Out of them, Kremer is the only one I would have rather had a better option. I'm wondering if Means is just really on a load program that will allow him the best chance to be pitching well by the end of the year. The one thing we sometimes forget is that Means has never made it through a season without an IL stint. He's had struggles in the second half of seasons. Now the Orioles can't say they're doing this because a player has to be legitimately hurt/rehabbing in order to be on the IL, but what it this is all to make sure we have a healthy, fresh Means in September/October?

Personally, I would not be surprised if one of Rubenstein's first actions as owner is to greenlight Elias on signing Henderson to a long term contract. Both he and Holiday need to be here for the next 10 years at least.

Never ever ever!

Any Horvath or Wagner sightings?