Tony-OH

I wanted Texas over the Astros just because I'm tired of seeing the Astros in the WS. But everyone should know that Texas is a team full of high paid mercenary free agents that they bought over the last few years. I don't want to hear their "rags to riches" story that they went from a 100-loss, to a 90+ loss, to an AL Champion. They bought their way out of their funk and while they do have some good young home grown talent contributing, a 217 million payroll gives you a good shot to overcome mistakes.

When Bradish is knocking out 6 to 7 solid innings in a playoff/world series game he can be called a TOR. When Bradish can give you closer to 200 innings vs the 168.2 he gave them this year, he can be considered a TOR. Now don't get me wrong, Bradish had a great year, but one excellent 168.2 inning season followed by an inability to complete 5 innings in his first playoff start does not make him a TOR in my opinion. Since being a TOR can have multiple meaning and criteria to different people, I have zero issues if you want to call him a TOR or think of him as a TOR. A TOR for me is that horse at the top of your rotation that you are shocked when they don't give you a fairly dominant start and come playoff time, he steps up and shows why he's really a TOR. Bradish has the ability to get there. He's not there yet and after only two years in the big leagues, it should not be expected. I do think he and Rodriguez can make a fantastic 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation for years to come, but they both need experience and in Rodriguez's case, the ability to contain their emotions in big moments. But, back to Wells, since it is his thread, Wells in more of solid back of the rotation guy or #4 starter in the playoffs/World Series if he's still got innings left in him.

Literally, that's what "horses" are not supposed to do. That's the issue most of us have with Smoltz's analysis. He's never pitched more than 119.1 innings a a pro in any season. He's going to pitch at 29 years old next year. I don't know how anyone can expect that he will become a horse for a whole season when there is no evidence that he can. Now do I think Wells can be an effective starter for a bit, sure. Is he a guy who you could maybe get 20 starts out of like they did this past year, perhaps. I'll be honest though, I do not expect Elias to pick up a top starter this offseason so he very well may start next season in the Orioles rotation. It would not surprise me at all if the Orioles rotation next year is not Bradish, Rodriguez, Means, Wells and Kremer. Is that good enough come playoff time? I guess it depends on if Bradish takes the next step to be a TOR, Rodriguez becomes a solid #2 or starts to fulfill is TOR potential, Means can stay healthy, and Kremer and Wells can at least provide solid #4 and #5 type starts.

Yeah, we have a body of work now that suggests he doesn't have that many innings in him per year. Now if you're ok using him for half a year as a starter then move him to relief in the second half or once he starts to break down, then ok, but in no shape or form can you call Tyler Wells a "horse" when he's never made more than 23 starts in a season. On top of it all, his 4.98 FIP and the fact he gave up 25 home runs in just 118.2 IP suggests some regression next year if he sticks as a starter. Now Wells certainly has the arsenal and the ability to get into the 6th inning often getting into the 6th inning in 13 of his 20 starts. The question is whether he can spend an entire year in the rotation? The only time Wells has thrown more than the 118.2 IP he threw last year was in 2018 when he threw 119.1 innings between A+ and AA. Of course he needed Tommy John after that season. He's looks like he's built like a "horse", and he has the repertoire to be successful as a starter, but we've never seen him come close to the workload needed to be considered a "horse".

Heim was a cold weather high school kid with a raw stick who was known for his defensive work. As Frobby pointed out, both Sisco and Wynns were ahead of him in the minor league "depth chart" for catching prospects He's a nice story as a player who had to grind in order to eventually develop into a good major league hitter. His defensive abilities at catcher and the ability to switch hit allowed him to keep getting chances when others would not. I clearly remember when he was selected and then bombed pretty hard offensively in his first taste of pro ball, that I was reminded that he was a "cold weather kid, who's bat will take awhile to come around." Clearly that was a true statement. Good on him, but I can't fault the Orioles at the time for moving him and even if they didn't, maybe he doesn't develop the same way? It is a good reminder though when you get cold weather kids out of high school that you are willing to keep running them out there to see if they get it eventually. Most will not though just like most warm weather kids won't make it and there's only so much playing time available. Sometimes guys just needs changes of scenery to keep getting playing time until it clicks.

That was a bomb by Seager to start the game!

By the end of next season we'll know if he's McKenna with more pop, or Zach Watson.

Yeah, no doubt. Schwarber is become quite the three outcome player.

I hate when the same team keeps going to the World Series. The Astros as just too damn good once the playoffs start. I remember when some people on here were laughing at the Astros in the Twitterverse saying the World Series will still go through them. People were pointing to the Orioles 101 wins vs the Astros 90 wins. Orioles had no post season experience, Astros have crazy amount of post season experience. The moment is not too big for them.

Figures, we get red hot Rangers, Astros get choke version of the Rangers. Terrible bullpen. Terrible base running. Just crud.

What the hell kinds of pinch runner is Smith? How did he not tag there? Terrible.

Wow, roped right at the SS.

Gotta root for the Rangers here. So tired of the Astros in the World Series!

He is quite the special post season player.

LeClerc doesn't belong anywhere close to the 9th inning.

Sorry, the 2 was a typo. It was 78 PAs. My fault.

That includes his A+ time. The stats I quoted was just his Bowie splits.

I guess if there was any kinda good news is that he slashed a Rob Deeresque .214/.398/.443/.841 with 5 HR, 19 BB and 31 K in 93 PAs in his last 20 games. While I won't bury him until he gets another full AA season under his belt, his 108 Ks in 288 AA PAs his not only a red flag, but it's an entire fire truck of red lights going off along with sirens. He is a good defensive outfielder and he did hit lefties ok, even at Bowie where he slashed .206/.359/.476/.835, but with still to much miss (29K in 78 PAs). Unless there was something physically wrong with him that we don't know about, to say I'm concerned about his future ability to hit major league pitching can not be understated. He needs to come back a different hitter in 2024 and his rankings will suffer due to his AA numbers.

Maybe? He runs gangly, kinda like Nolan Reimold so maybe he's faster than he appears. I know he's stolen some bases but to me, he looks like he has average speed at best. That's probably enough for left field if he can get good jumps and improve his routes.

Beavers is not a major league CF prospect in my opinion. Unless he improves a lot, I just don't see the jumps and routes or foot speed to play there all the time. Fill in, maybe.

Not yet at least. While Basallo was playing a "playing age" year younger than Tavera and Sosa, they both out performed him in the FCL. The Dominican/Venezuelan scouting under Kobe Perez is really starting to blossom.

@nvpacchi First off, great post above. Can you PM me how you've been able to find AAA statcast data for a season vs game by game? Also, the "gyro" pitch sounds more like a cutter vs slider judging by your descriptions.

Most of the Latin/Spanish players speak well enough English/Spanglish to converse with their teammates. Even ones who use an interpreter in interviews tend to be able to understand and speak some English. Personally I think people are reading too much into this that the Latin American players were not mentioned. Maybe they don't prefer that setting? I agree with you that a lot of them are probably Catholic, who are probably more church/mass focused vs bible study session focused. We saw all season how much everyone got along in the dugouts and on the field. I think this is a non-issue myself.

Actually, I have to say the conversation didn't stray that far. Really the only "religion" discussion was whether Catholics were Christians and even in that discussion it never got heated. It is a fine line we have draw here on the subject, but in the end, if this brings guys together a little bit more it's a good thing. I never got any vibes that they were not inclusive or looked down upon those who did not partake. That is when things get sticky with religion and religion talk.

You will soon!