Tony-OH

Krehbiel has pitched well, but I agree, he goes because Irvin can supply some length if needed. Saying that, Irvin did just throw 39 pitches on Sunday so if he's not available tonight, he and Krehbiel could go down with Zimmerman getting promoted to provide length in case Means is unable to get into the 6th inning.

This plays told us a lot about his health as well. When he first came back from the IL, I think we saw him being a little tentative at times, particularly in the field, but there was nothing tentative about stretching that hit into a double. Not that this team needs much more inspiration, but when you see an almost 35-year old, 11-year veteran out there laying it all out on the field, you sure as hell are not going to dog it any time soon.

Honestly, at some point, I do think you have to just tip the cap due to the winning. I can certainly point to several head scratching moves by Elias including the Frazier signing, the lack of playing Stowers early on, and the lack of move for a true ace at the trading deadline to add to the rotation. But at the end of the day, I've always said that the results are the only thing that matter when the team is ready to compete. And whether I can nitpick on certain things now, what I can't deny is the sums of it's parts has allowed the Orioles to have the best record in the AL and potentially having their first 100+ season since 1979. I have zero issues of Hicks being put back on this roster over Cowser. Afterall, Cowser failed in his first go around and whether Cowser ends up better next season or the seasons to come have little to do with this season. Hicks is a veteran who has 114 postseason PAs to his credit and I think Elias and Hyde values that experience. I saw someone say Cowser looked "just happy to be in the majors" while Westburg looked "All business." While I think most of that is personality based, there could be some merit to the fact that Hyde may just like his clubhouse better with a veteran like Hicks on the team vs Cowser who some of referred to as a "bit goofy" in interviews and such. That's not being derogatory towards Cowser, just that maybe his personality is not what Hyde feels this team needs in a playoff stretch run over a calming presence like Hicks?

I think it was a very good season and in fact, was a better overall season than Basallo's FCL season last year. I love the 22 BB-23 K ratio and the .391 OBP. Tavera is just six months older than Basallo was in the FCL. But let's look at the two: WRC+ WOBA BB/K ISO BABIP SwStr% 2022 Basallo 116 .369 0.41 .137 .322 28.7% 2023 Tavera 117 .395 0.96 .159 .293 16.5% Hard to see how you can not get excited about Tavera after seeing Basallo take off this year.

What, damn, I would have been better. Al Oliver would have been my Pirates/Expos connection.

I missed my first White Sox 200K pitcher by 9 Ks. Jack McDowell (191)! I don't think I would have gotten the Nats - Pirates one though either way!

I did this one Frobby style, all by memory. Got 8 out of 9 with a rarity score of: 265 Damn Nationals hurt me on the players because they don't go back far enough into my core knowledge years. Now if this were the Expos I'd be gold!

I think that was an attempt at sarcasm.

I'm going to put together an All-League team for each Rookie level. These are not necessarily the best prospects, but the guys who had the best season. The rules are the player must have spent most of his season at that level and played most of his games at that position to qualify. 1B: Victor Gonzalez - (.221/.280/.397/.677) 2B: Aron Estrada - (.206/.383/.365/.748) SS: Maikol Hernandez - (.179/.308/.269/.577) 3B: Leandro Arias - (.271/.370/.414/.785) OF: Kevin Guerrero - (.277/.323/.420/.743) CF: Braylin Tavera - (.262/.391/.421/.812) OF: Thomas Sosa - (.290/.385/.492/.877) C : Aneudis Mordán - (.274/.390/.504/.894) SP: Luis De Leon - (1.65, 27.1 IP, 23 H, 14 BB, 36 K) SP: Raúl Rangel - (4.39, 26.2 IP, 27 H, 14 Bb, 26 K) RP: Bryan Bautista - (3.60, 20 IP, 19 H, 10 BB, 19 K)

I'm going to put together an All-League team for each Rookie level. These are not necessarily the best prospects, but the guys who had the best season. The rules are the player must have spent most of his season at that level and played most of his games at that position to qualify. 1B: Luis Vicioso - (.314/.376/.436/.812) 2B: Sebastián De Los Santos - (.243/.393/.314/.708 SS: Luis Guevara - (.318/.444/.380/.824) 3B: Fernando Peguero - (.333/.423/.475/.899) OF: Yirber Ruiz - (.273/.442/.485/.927) CF: Elis Cuevas - (.305/.401/.455/.855) OF: Jean Mata - (.261/.354 /.291/.645) C : Miguel Rodriguez - (.323/.489/.385/.874) SP: Jesús Palacios - (1.95, 50.2 IP, 37 H, 13 BB, 60K) SP: Cesar Espinal - (3.18, 34 IP, 29 H, 11 BB, 34 K) SP: Francisco Morao - (3.89, 39.1 32 H, 21 BB, 52 K) RP: Wilton Rondon - (2.33, 27 IP, 19 H, 14 BB, 23 K) RP: Ledwin Gonzalez - (3.14, 28.2 IP, 29 H, 17 BB, 29 K) Best prospects not listed: 3B: Joshua Liranzo - (.244/.393/.400/.793) SS: Luis Almeyda - (.190/.290/.310/.600) Only 60 PAs, due to injuries

I know this is a little bit sarcastic, but if Holiday becomes a perennial all-star second baseman, is anyone going to be upset that we took him? Also, let's say he's behind Henderson and Ortiz defensively at SS right now, if he starts his career at 2B, it doesn't mean he can't still move to SS if there's a need. I'm not saying he can't play SS in the major leagues, but I think his bat will be his main value during his career. Saying all that, Anthony Volpe has shown that you can play SS effectively with a below average arm if you get rid of the ball quickly and have good range/hands. He's been rated as a plus defender by every metric besides double play runs saved. I think Holiday's arm is better than Volpe.

Not sure where you got that 42% number from, but according to statcast for pitches in 2023, 49.1 % of the 632,981 were in the zone.

Aberdeen's season is over and he needs innings.

You have to imagine without a really surprisingly poor spring training next year, that he's starting in AA next year. The Orioles have not "demoted" a top prospect to a lower affiliate under the Elias regime that I can remember.

There's a lot of speculations here which is fine, that's what the board is for, but if the Orioles are letting him throw a baseball at all then it means they have not ruled him out pitching again this year. Not having any idea what the injury is other than a "UCL injury," I'm going to remain a bit pessimistic about seeing the 100 MPH Bautista again this season, but I won't rule it out either. That's not something I would have said when he walked off that mound so it's at least a sliver of hope.

He's shown the ability to be very good over stretches this season. The question is whether he's worn out or not IMHO. He's throw 1130 more pitches than he's thrown in any season since 2019. His fastball has lost a little but under a MPH, but has gained 2.3 inches of vertical drop which means it remains truer and that has turned his fastball from a good pitch to a very hittable pitch. Flaherty is clearly not the guy he was in 2019 which is why cost three prospects on the fringe of the top 30 vs a potential impact one for the stretch drive. I wish the stuff gave me more hope but I think while he can use guile to at times to get through a lineup once or twice occasionally, I don't see him suddenly becoming a guy you can count on down the stretch or in the playoffs. Then again, we don't know whether Bradish, Kremer or Grod will hold up either because they've never been here in a playoff race at this many pitches/innings. Means could be a huge boost to this team come playoff time. We just need to see what he has in the tank after the surgery and back injury. The stuff was a little down in AAA from his major league stuff a few years ago.

I don't think that ship has sailed. I think it's prepared to sail, but it hasn't sailed yet. Flaherty has playoff experience and I think Elias values that which was part of the reason he went out and got him. Now, has Flaherty pitched himself into a situation where his roster spot of tenable at bets? I think so, but until he's DFA'd, Elias very well may still give him another chance and if he pitches well, he could still be on a playoff roster.

It would certainly make sense.

Everything we've heard about Flaherty is that he's a great teammate and intense competitor. I can almost guarantee any displeasure he's showing on the mound or dugout is directed at himself. No one wants to join a playoff team and be a failure. I think sometimes it's easy for some fans to draw conclusions on the player's attitude, but unless you are in the clubhouse, I don't think anyone can have a true understanding of the player as a person or teammate. Flaherty has a 7.16 ERA in his 6 starts, but the Orioles are 3-3 in his six starts. The problem I see with Flaherty is his fastball is a below average pitch in movement and velocity and that means he needs to be very much in command to have success. The curveball which has morphed into more of a sweeper, has been ok, but the last few starts it did not have it's late break and has been more slurvy and hittable. His percentile rankings don't make you too thrilled that he's a guy you want starting in the playoffs.

It was the 8th. https://www.mlb.com/video/jorge-lopez-in-play-no-out-to-wilyer-abreu?q=GamePk %3D [716664] AND PitchSpeed %3D {{ 36%2C 105 }} Order By Timestamp DESC&cp=MIXED&p=1

Hicks has looked very tentative in pushing off quickly, probably because he worried about re-injuring himself again. Saying that, he really hasn't missed any "easy" catches since coming back. I'm not sure if last night's non catch is in baseball savant yet (I couldn't find it this morning) and to me it looked catchable for most CFers, but his worse play of the year was this one https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=8631ab0e-ae23-423d-b416-41979ca72c15. I can see trying to get Hicks' bat in the lineup when giving Mullns a day off against a tough lefty but I'd try and keep him out of center as much as possible even though I don't think he's going to kill a team out there even with his tentative play.

Where are you getting that .428 OBP from? His OBP is .326.

I'm not sleeping on him. I just have concerns on his strike out to walk rate (39 BB to 118 K) and low OBP (.326 below the team avg of .334). He's also older for the league and his slash line against older pitchers is .249/.315/.394/.709. He's also not good defensively on the dirt and not a plus defensive outfielder despite his speed. As a right-handed hitter, he also does not hit lefties particularly well at .219/.303/.371/.674 in 120 PAs. I also think his power output is aided by hitter (power wise) friendly Prince George's Stadium. Away from home, he's slashed .239/.304/.362/.665 with just 5 homers in 237 PAs. Does he have a little pop and speed? Sure. Is he a great 10th round pick and a bit of an overachiever? Sure. Is he the 27th best prospect in a loaded system? If he is, this system is not as loaded as people think. At best he's a guy who sneaks in and ends up a Ryan McKenna type 4th/5th outfielder, but let's put this in context, McKenna is only two years older than Cook. At 24-year old, McKenna slashed .307/.423/.683/1.106 in AAA and is a much better defensive outfielder than Cook. So I don't even think he's at Ryan McKenna level as a prospect. He's a nice little story, but let's not get too caught up with homers and stolen bases when he's hitting them at a hitter friendly and running against AA catchers/pitchers.

I've always been a visual learner and when I see the players names it triggers where they played. Typically I can visualize their baseball cards if their from the 70s or 80s.

New Record for me: 0.4% Jeff Suppan, 1%Tony Batista 0.5%Russ Springer 0.1%Mike Paxton 0.5%Rico Carty 0.4%Cliff Johnson 0.1%Rich Gale 2%John Mayberry 0.04%Leon Roberts Now I'm not doing this off pure memory. I go to 1977 baseball (or first year for Arizona) reference pages of these teams and then start looking at players' names. I typically can see the players name I remember they played on the other team. Is that cheating? I don't know, but I don't spend more than 10 mins on any of these. I've played so many OOTP games with players from 1975 to 1988 that I have a pretty good idea of where everyone played.