Tony-OH

Good Lord, this is about the worse news possible on opening day of camp. How in the world do you sprain your UCL over the offseason? Wow, what a bummer. Guess Elias better get on the phone and get something done or Tyler Wells/Cole Irvin just became starter candidates.

Tate has two options as well. I think he starts in Norfolk barring an injury. they are not DFAing a guy if they don't have to.

Yep, that's why all three of them will make it barring a meltdown this spring or injury.

Yep, I agree. They've shown no indication they want a full-time DH when they use it as sort of a semi-day off at times.

Not sure where he plays everyday though. We need the DH spot for Kjerstad/Adley.

Thanks. That is excellent video. Had to add that guy to my subscribed list.

Mountcastle needs a breakout year this year or his time is probably up here in Baltimore. His .235/.291/.349/.640 against right-handed pitching has to significantly improve this year. This may be a reason to keep O'Hearn around if Kjerstad does not show an ability to play 1B effectively this spring. If Mountcastle is struggling into May against right-handers, he's going to need to be platooned. Mountcastle would make an excellent pinch-hitter against left-handed relievers as well. They Orioles are missing that right-handed punch on their bench right now.

Kjerstad looked nowhere near playable at 1B last year. Now I imagine he's had a whole off season of working on it so perhaps he'll be better. Heck, I hope he can show that he can play there because it opens up more PAs for him. I agree with the OP, O'Hearn probably needs to go. Can't send a 26-year old Kjerstad back to AAA of give him 300 PAs between RF, DH and maybe an occasional LF start in Boston. O'Hearn is not good enough defensively in RF for him to gain value there so hopefully a team will have a need at 1B/DH and come a knocking late in spring training.

Yet there was a reason he was available still in the 3rd round. I'm not bashing on Lord because he might be a steal, but sometimes I think these guys get a little too enamored with a guy because they see certain data like spins rates, shapes and from hitters perspective EVs. All of that is good and it certainly gets us interested, but there are reasons why guys fall to where they fall. Now I didn't see Lord pitch outside of his college videos and he threw a ton of fastballs, something he'll have to adjust at the pro level. Hopefully it will come together but I think it's way too early to put him so high in a deep system like the Orioles. Hopefully Law will be proven right, but that's pretty high for a guy who put up a 6.19 ERA in college last year and has never thrown more than 75 innings in a season during which he had velocity drops. He's got major reliever risk currently.

That was a bit surprising because I didn't talk to anyone, nor did I see any way that Holliday is betetr than Gunnar right now. In the future when Gunnar may lose a little quickness and needs to be at 3B to maximize his defensive value, perhaps, but I didn't see that elite quickness you would like to see from your major league shortstop and the arm is just ok, not well above average like Gunnar's.

I think part of his weakness at times on fastballs too is he's cheating on offspeed pitches which is why I've seen him struggle with good velocity. I wish I had the whiff rates in the minors, but I never noticed a huge problem with him against breaking balls against righties. Now against lefties, sure, but most minor league lefties struggle with good left on left breaking balls. I think a little more highly of him than Law does, but I agree 100% on his take on his defense. There is a some risk to Cowser's bat for sure, but you don't slash .300/.417/.520/.937 because you can't hit offspeed of breaking pitches at all. He may have more whiff than others, and I think he's going to be high strikeout guy, but he also can make some loud contact so I'm not quite as down on the bat as Law is right now. But as I've said before, there is definitely risk that he may end up a 4th outfielder/platoon guy if he can't improve on getting to velocity or hit lefthanders better. It's worth noting that while he misses a lot against lefties, he did hold his own a bit better last year slashing .253/.347/.398/.745 against them so there's hope.

Probably just doesn't have the scouting contacts in the DSL and he's always been hesitant to give too much press to guys who haven't made it to the States yet. Liranzo is very young and if you weren't following his rise throughout the season or heard about his exit velocities and background, he's easy to miss. That's why you have me!

If we see Westburg playing a lot of 3B then It will be a clue that Holliday has a chance of sticking.

I was a little surprised Gilles did not get a spring training invite.

Sometimes you have way too much time on your hands. You clearly know what I meant by saying what I said. He lasted until the 10th round. I mean come on, let's try not to play word gymnastics in our discussion here.

I mean, I get it, and he does look like a very good little player that might have been slept on a bit, but still, that's too high in the Orioles system. I thought I was being a bit bold putting him in the top 30. Of course I don't have access to the "underlying metrics" so perhaps I would have liked him more, but I try to remember that 30 professional scouting staffs felt he was a 10th rounder at best. I guess we can all hope he's a steal and Kiley is right.

Wow, making a 10th round pick who signed for slot the #11 overall prospect in a deep system is a bold take for sure.

I'm not a hitting instructor by any means, but I did some research and the prevailing wisdom is that you are giving up the inertia created when your front foot lands firmly and doesn't move. As with all hitting and pitching philosophies, I'm sure the more you dig the more chances you have of finding different takes on the situation.

I didn't say why he took a vacation nor did I say it was planned. I simply said he took a vacation vs was suspended or fired.

Savant is the place to find the information that is not tainted. It's literally the direct information taken from systems. Is it perfect, no, but it's a lot closer than every other bit of information out there, especially defensive information. You know when I say a gut can't play SS, that I mean effectively. You've been around here long enough and know enough to see that Maton is obviously not an effective SS. No team wants to play him there for anything but an emergency. You know all of this yet you are wasting mine and your time for some reason.

I don't know where you dug up that scouting report, but before you go off and Wildcard me by acting like MLB.com scouting reports mean anything, go look up his arm strength and OAA numbers on baseball savant and come back and tell me he can play SSs effectively. Westburg has a lot of shortstop time in the minors but I don't want him playing SS in anything other than an emergency. That was a lazy post, especially for you.

Looks like another AAAA infielder with a little upside to compete with Maton for that Elias coveted left-hander infielder spot. Plays all three infield spots with 2B probably bein his best. It appears can play SS unlike Maton. Elias has done a nice job adding to the middle infield depth that was lacking at the upper levels.

Above average to slightly above avg according to statcast data. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=b744b0a7-f49a-4d7a-bd96-288e70f71879 3-star catch 2-star catches: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=aa98e4ff-c892-4363-bac9-df7aaef00db3 https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=9298142d-5309-4776-b2da-bdf48b7514db In Lf https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=1bc01fdf-5dfd-4241-8013-e90608a8c7d9 1-Star catches: Wall catch https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=5a010b21-5f17-456f-b9e3-8b2d90f25a0e https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=9281fc8c-ca61-4528-bc85-aece6dc16675

Probably because his projected starters at 2B and 3B are RH hitters so he would like a left-hander to throw in there on a day off. Whether that's Maton or not will probably depend on how he looks, and also how Holliday plays, though I think Holliday is going to minors no matter what to start the year.

He took vacation. Unless he's lying to me, which I doubt, he told me he was on vacation.