Tony-OH

46. Justin Armbruester – RHP (AA/AAA): The big right-hander made his way to AAA in 2023 with mixed results after starting the year pitching in Bowie. Throws a 90-94 MPH fastball that touches 95 that can get some swing and miss at times, but when he catches too much of the plate he can get barreled up. He abandoned a poor changeup in favor is using a cutter this year and that has helped defend himself better against lefties. He throws both a slider and curveball with the slider being the more consistent offering though neither are consistent swing and miss pitches. He doesn't really have a go to strike out pitch and that will limit his major league effectiveness unless he develops one. I think he would sit more 93-96 in relief and his fastball does have properties that help it play up a bit.

It's probably about time to move Armbruester to relief now that he's close and could potentially add value in a Baumann type role if something were to happen to him and several others ahead of him. I don't see Armbruester as a starter at all.

I'm going to say this because it apparently it needs to be said. WE GET YOUR VIEWPOINT ON BAUER! You just keep fighting the same fight. You've made your points on why you don't want him. Seems like now you're just looking to try and counter anything anyone posts about Bauer not being the Anti-Christ. For me, I'm very much in the camp of being fine with whatever way Elias wants to go because he has more info than I do about him. At this point it's either going to happen or not. Continuing the Bauer debate without any new information seems like it's just two sides continuing the same arguments.

Means has become terribly fragile unfortunately so while I can understand why the Orioles are being so cautious with him, I share other's concerns that he's had all off season to rest and he's still behind schedule. I don't think we can project or expect too much from Means because his injury history tells us we should not put too many eggs in his basket. I look at anything he gives this year as icing on the cake. The Orioles need another starter IMHO.

Nah, Wilson was a high 80s, low 90s guy who work off pitchability. Armbruester is a lot more like Wright in that he's a fastball, slider guy who can get it into the mid-90s but has no real outpitch against lefties and no consistent swing and miss pitch.

Means has pitched 31.2 innings since 2021 and has never pitched more tan 155 innings in a season. Perhaps this delay is actually good for him and the Orioles. We also know Wells has been good as a starter for half a season and Irvin actually pitched pretty well after a terrible April that saw him banished to Norfolk quickly. So I'm not too concerned about "losing" Means for a month because he was a bit of a wildcard anyways due to his continual injury problems. The issue now comes in the pen where they are really short, especially at the impact reliever role. Wells was hopefully going to help with some of that and now he needs to be in the pen. I don't know if McDermott or Povich's command are good enough yet, but both have major league stuff that might be useful out of the pen. I'd still rather see them both be developed as starter's in Norfolk more, but this is about winning now and if they can do so, I'd give them looks this spring. Saying all that, I'd really like to see them get another starter or somehow get a guy who has the potential to be an impact high leverage reliever. The pen is the team's weak point at this stage of the season.

He's not on par with those two, not even close in my opinion. He's more on par with guys like Mike Wright or Travis Lakins.

Looks like he's a soft tosser in the Nick Vespi mold. https://www.mlb.com/video/00u7jzgkdtP9kH55c356/reels/matt-krook-swinging-strikes?partnerId=web_multimedia-search_video-share

I will take the word of a police officer like you on this topic over any other, because you guys are the 1st responders to incidents where the emotions are running high, and lies and exaggerations tend to fly. At the end of the day, I have no idea whether the allegations are true or not against these guys. What I care about is whether Elias believes that A) They can help this ballclub win a world series B) They will fit into this clubhouse.

It's a fair point to suggest that the juice is not worth the squeeze. Whether he'd become a "media circus" depends on how he acts. There are lots of redemption stories like Josh Hamilton who were able to successfully come back from rock bottom. Now, I don't know anything other than what I've read about Bauer. Personally, my major concern is that he doesn't seem to be a very good clubhouse guy and struggles to control his emotions on the field. But let's say Bauer interviews with Elias, and Elias thinks he can fit in? He's already said he's willing to take a major league minimum salary with incentives to pitch again. What if he's willing to relieve and could be a shutdown high leverage reliever? Now I don't know the answers to any of these, and I'm just as ok if Elias passes as if he decided to roll the dice with him. I guess in this case, I'll trust Elias' judgement over anyone else's because he's closer to the situation and has more info on Bauer than we in the public get out of the media.

Me personally, I think you answered your own question. The game has radically changed in how it's coached and scouted, so it's tough for a lot of these guys to really bring a lot of "new value" to the players. I do think though that they may see little things here and there and if anyone can bring value it's JJ Hardy going over "hands work" and getting rid of the ball quickly. That's doesn't change. Still, they bring the old stories and a link to past successes and allow the young players to hope that one day, they will be that guy the other young players look at and go, "Hey, that's Gunnar Henderson, wow!"

Cameron is a cool story. Going from message board poster, to fan graphs writer, to working for his hometown team. I once wanted that as well, so it's awesome to see how it progressed for him.

I agree with this. Brady hurt his reputation during the three-headed monster regime at the end of the DD/Buck era amongst those of us who follow the Orioles very closely. But to the average fan and the fact that Brady is a positive guy overall, why not? I see these things as a very Buckish type of thing to do and I like it. It's bringing back former Orioles to impart some old stories and be more of an ambassador to previous successful histories of the Orioles. I doubt any are going to impact any player good or bad in the few days that they are there, so this is just kind of a feel good thing.

Welcome back, just a note, if you cut and paste from another site, select "plain text" so it will post with white text here. Or you can select all of your text and go into the editor and change the color of the text.

Akin and Baker to a lesser extent just got a huge reprieve with Bradish and Means not starting the year in the rotation. If we assume Wells and Irvin move into those roles, that opens two bullpen roles and if Akin throws well, you have to imagine he's one because he can give you length and is left-handed. Obviously Zimmermann will be in the conversation as well but Akin has more bullpen experience. Baker will be among the handful of candidates, to include Tate that now have more a chance to make the team since we know Baumann is going to make it with no options.

Right on point. Thanks for saving me time. That infield alignment may be the one they see for the foreseeable future and probably their best overall defensive alignment. If that happens, Mayo is either moving to 1B (where they may need for Basallo is a few years) or right field. His bat is going to play at any of those positions. Even if they determine that Holliday can now play SS legitimately in the majors, that moves Gunnar to third which still does the same thing to Mayo. I still think Mayo can handle 3B defensively right now, but he's a huge guy and his quickness and agility will slow down a bit as he gets older so a move off 3B is probably inevitable anyways.

Where's the option, of yes, he'll show up for a start or two in June, get shut back down, try to rehab, but eventually get surgery in September so he misses all of 2025 too? That's where my optimism is after today's kick in the nuts news.

Seems like some extra catching reps just became available in Bowie at least through April. I don't think it's anything that should affect his hitting though.

I'd kick the tires on that honestly.

This is the Gunnar thread. Means discussion has it's own thread to keep them straight. thanks.

Hyde said he does not expect Means to make opening day so all this "might stuff" can be eliminated for our thought process. Even if there was a sliver of a chance Means was able to go by OD, Hyde would not have said that. I just don't have a lot of faith that after a whole offseason Means is not ready in spring training. I don't buy this whole January ramp up thing gets you started for the season. Hell, it cost us a Bradish injury and Means is not even ready for it after being shutdown since September. The recovery of their pitchers and timelines have been very long and reinjuries seem to be common under the Orioles medical/rehab system. Last year Tate never could pitch effectively, Seth Johnson took forever, and Carter Baumler took a long time then hurt himself again, was shut down, then started back up, then shut down again in Arizona Fall League. The Orioles are good at a lot of things, but rehabbing pitchers have not exactly been a strength of theirs.

A lot of "hope" in that analysis of the pitching injuries.

I'd by lying if the Cease trade talk didn't seem pertinent again! LOL Still not giving up one of the top 3 though.

Elias is "hopeful" but I don't think anyone will know until we see how he responds to treatment. Some people do, some don't. Basically he went from our #2 pitcher stud to a question mark who could potentially be out until mid-2025 if they keep delaying.

The Gunnar news is disappointing but not terrible for now. At least it's not a hamate bone injury that saps power. But Obliques can be tricky too.