Tony-OH

To this day I'll never know who that Mike Wright was. Adrenaline fueled Mike Wright was a different pitcher than normal Mike Wright for sure.

You guys are misremembering. Bradish was always considered the top prospect in that deal for Bundy. He was the only one I liked when I got eyes on but I worried about him only being a reliever because at the time, he had a weird extreme overhand delivery and was basically just a fastball, curveball guy. His development into a bonafide starter with a better delivery with five pitches, including a plus-plus slider has been amazing.

After what I felt was a very underwhelming offseason, I felt this team was an 83 win team give or take a few wins. I'm happily surprised at how they have "lifted off" this season irregardless of how they got here. My biggest surprises would have to be: 1) Ryan O'Hearn going from a DFA guy from the Royals into a middle of the order hitter on the best team in AL. No one saw this. Yes, I saw the good EVs and read about how the shifts affected him, but he was 29-years old and looked at best to be a potential fill in or role player. 2) Yennier Cano becoming an All-Star and one of the best setup guys in baseball. Who saw this after what he did at the major league level last year? Yes, he had an immaculate inning in AAA last year and yeah, the stuff looked decent, but going from a guy who many of us thought could have been jettisoned off the 40-man this offseason to a rock in the backend of the Orioles bullpen is quite the surprise. 3) The acquisition of Aaron Hicks and his success with the Orioles has been pretty huge. He's a significant upgrade offensively (.279/.386/.431/.818) over McKenna and has filled in nicely as a starter when Mullins went down with injuries. Everyone kept waiting for the other shoe to drop but maybe getting on a good team in a great environment really heled him find himself again? 4) Frobby mentioned Bradish becoming a stud starter, and I have to agree. The full integration of his sinker over the ineffective 4-seamer and his slider becoming plus-plus is a pretty amazing development story for the Orioles and him. 5) When Danny Coulombe was acquired at the end of spring training, many of us thought it may have been just for the Red Sox series because they were loaded with left-handers. 60-games later and a 2.68 ERA, Coulombe has been an absolute staple in the pen this year. And if you watch the mic'd up pieces, he's obviously a great clubhouse guy.

I think we all have to hope that. The other thing is that some of his "VPs" may become hot commodities as well. Depending on how much teams view Ciolek as the true Scouting Director over Elias, he could also be gone.

Agreed. I don't know if Elias will take it though. Whenever his contract is up, he will be worth an absolute S-ton of money and may want a new challenge if the Orioles win a World Series. I hope not. I hope he just wants to see how many WS he can win. But the lure will be there and I doubt Angelos will pay him what he's worth.

He seems to be a guy you has a very thin margin for error in his usage. Can't use him on back to back nights, and can't rest him more than three days.

Actually, until the Rays took loss 63 last night, they had not clinched sole posession of the best record in the AL East and the AL as whole. They had only clinched because they held the tie breaker by having a better head to head record against the Rays this year. But now the Orioles have clinched best record in the AL because they can do no worse than 100-62.

Just like you during games!

Fuji can not be on the playoff roster pitching like this.

Not real surprising the Orioles would have a bit of a hangover game after yesterday.

Perfect slide unfortunately.

Fuji

Post of the thread!!!

I'm pretty sure all this means is the T's still need to be crossed and the I's dotted, but the agreement is basically in place. I feel good that it will be finalized soon.

Well it's pretty impressive that they knew what was coming and still struggled to hit him. That may have contributed to the high pitch count though.

Holy crap man, I'd be careful with that bet. I'm not sure you understand how Elias does things and why it makes very little sense for Holiday to be on the opening day roster in 2024. I will not say it's impossible, because with the right amount of injuries it's not, but Elias knows he has to pay these guys at some point and not going to want them all coming up at the same time to be paid within a year or two. With Westburg and Ortiz, he doesn't need Holliday yet and he may want him to work on defense at SS and 2B more in AAA. Plus I love crabs!

Coby Mayo, meet Kris Bryant Crazy thing? He may be better than Bryant.

How about that Championship game? Mayo goes 4-for-4 with an oppo bomb. Holliday goes yard. Ortiz with another gold glove caliber play at second base. Povich goes 4 scoreless with 4Ks (needed too many pitches to get there though) Stowers with a nice play in RF. Norby has two hits including a triple while playing LF. Cowser hits a 2B. Literally all of these guys are major league caliber players playing in AAA. It's good to be an Orioles fan right now!

Was Kyle Gibson put on here as the throwaway pick like when you have multiple choice tests in the Army? Gibson is not even a top five pitcher of the year for the Orioles candidate.

Mayo with the oppo bomb, Stowers with the CF bomb, Ortiz with a great defensive play and key RBI single. Props to Voth too for having a great game. It's very easy to be depressed this time of year that you are pitching in AAA vs the big leagues and kind of go through the motions, but Voth definitely upped his game.

I like to focus on next season after the season. Saying that, I'm not sure they can keep a luxury like him all season if he's not going to hit. How much he's used and how successful he is during the playoffs this year could go a long way for his potential role here in 2024 IMHO.

I love me some Uecker, but this is definitely one of the stories that did not work! Poor Bob Costas!

Just merging a lot of great stories and experience with Brooks by Roy to make them easier to find.

Mateo will be useful bench player in the playoffs because of his speed and ability to come in and play a quality SS. I can see his speed late in a game being a difference maker in a close playoff game.

I'm definitely looking forward to his scouting report when I discuss the DSL guys.