Tony-OH

My preference is for people to start minor league players' 2023 pages once we are talking about their 2023 year. That can start in spring training or if there is news or something interesting that will affect them in 2023 (injury, surgery, etc). Anything talking about what you think of the players should be titled something different for now. Thanks.

I imagine that was done on purpose. I'm fairly certain Wildcard believes Irvin will certainly implode by then and will be out of the rotation.

Thanks. As with all evaluators, sometimes we just like a guy more than others. For the most part, I don't have any major issues with what he wrote and he does a thorough job. It's pretty clear he doesn't have access to the information on the Dominican guys that haven't at least played in the FCL, because they would clearly be over some of the generic pitching prospect he has on the last after 20. We have similar opinions on almost all of the big names.

Thanks for the info, but you point out a few things that could be money related like lining the pockets. Maybe Angelos won't do that? Maybe he doesn't have the money to do that? I have zero information on why the academy remains a work in progress, but with all his legal and financial problems, you have to wonder whether a lack of funds to get this complete is part of the problem. Or at least not wanting to play the game down there to get things done.

What information do you have that makes you doubt it? I don't know the answer either because I have no information other than John Angelos is pretty cash and most likely gave Elias a smaller budget then expected.

Except that he's paying O'Hearn $1.4 million and you can certainly argue that catchers he kept are not very major league depth, though at least Kolozvary is good defensively.

How's that academy coming along why is not built yet? No one has the answer but potential lack of fundubg could be an issue, right? Actions speak louder than words in a press release!

In theory I don't doubt that, but Kremer, Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez are going to have to pitch their way out of spots. How they manage Rodriguez's innings is the only issue with him potentially not making the rotation. In theory they could option Rodriguez and bring him back for the April 5th start and go with an extra reliever for the first five games at least I think they can do that. Not sure about the rules for how long a player needs to be down after being optioned count at the beginning of the season. Like could they option him on March 24th and get their ten days? The AAA season starts March 31st so not sure if that plays into it.

I don't think he will hit for as much average as Mancini, but he may walk more and could have more power. But yeah, A left-handed Mancini is not the worse comp when we think about his OPS potential. It just may get there a little differently.

He only gets kudos for the hire of Elias, that's it. We already knew this stuff, but it's interesting to hear how much different it was from a pitching prosect like Grayson. I still wonder what kind of hitters Mountcastle and Hays could have been had they come up in this development system vs the one they came up with. I do want to say this is happening in many other teams now as this technology is being used heavily in development. But it's nice for once to hear of this organization being towards the front of this new technology and the ways they are used to improve players.

Sounds like he has some of the same concerns as I have but dinged him more for them or just felt he liked other players better. Our assessments are pretty close though I probably give him a better chance to overcome his issues.

If Stowers is not given an everyday job this year between RF/LF/FH then someone should be fired. He may not be the best and most agile defender, but as a RFer in Camden Yards he's just fine. If he gets 500 PAs, he's going to put up good numbers. I will not be happy at all if they keep benching him against lefties where he's got a great track record against them in the minor leagues. Stowers has earned a chance to be regular.

This year is about winning though, right? If there is a gaping hole and Hall can fill it, it doesn't make a lot of sense to go send him down for more innings when I think he pretty much is who he's going to be at this point. Whether he starts or relieves, he's going to be a guy who needs a lot of pitches per inning to get guys out which means as a starter, he's not going to be a guy who will get past the 5th inning much at the major league level due to pitch counts. Hall pitched into the 6th inning only 3 times in his 20 minor league starts last year. He pitched 90 or more pitches in 5 starts and in those starts he went (4.1, 6.0, 5.2, 4.0 (100 pitches), 5.1 innings). All of this is why despite repertoire and stuff, he's probably destined for the pen where he will be impact guy. That could start this year if there is a need.

I do. He's got tremendous range, a solid average to a tick above average major league shortstop arm, turns the DP with the best of them, and makes all the routine plays so he's not going to have a lot of bad errors. I think he's Mateo with a little less range running down pop ups (though he does that well too), a little less arm, but with a steadier glove for less errors.

Hyperbole much? lol I thought you were on the Hall has nothing to prove in AAA mantra, but sometimes I lose track of what according to you "would be stupid on every level imaginable." With Wells, Voth, Watkins and Zimmermann around, I'm not overly concerned if there's a need in the bullpen for a left-hander and Hall gets that job. It really just depends on the health and success of the current left-handed reliever options with Vespi out. Let me give you a scenario then. Perez gets hurt or shows up in spring training and seems to have lost his command again or Akin is goes down with injury, who do you replace them with? Darwinzon Hernandez is the only other current potential option other than Hall, so I do think there is situation where it makes sense that Hall makes the team as a Left-handed reliever. In theory Rom could be given a shot, but I think he's definitaly a guy they want to keep looking at as a starter. This is one of the areas where Elias did not find much depth this offseason (may not have been a lot out there I don't know) and there's not a lot of depth in the system when it comes to left-handed reliever options.

Ah, I wasn't tracking that "burn." lol

Some of things that make Estrada stand out over someone like De Los Santos was a better BB/K ratio, more power, and he's a switch-hitter instead of a pure righty. Estrada got a lot of hits on the ground (56.1%) and his .412 BABIP was the highest in the organization while Bencosme was at (37.8%) and (.341 BABIP) when he was in the DSL. Now Bencosme was a year older than Estrada at the same stage. Now I did get the impression talking to folks that saw him in in the DSL that Estrada is the clearly the most advanced hitter of any of the DSL guys which showed up in the stats obviously. It will be interesting to see if he's given the Bencosme experience. He's going to be in minor league spring training this year so it will be interesting to see if he's given some PAs with the "Aberdeen team" which could indicate he's get a chance at opening up with Delmarva at 18-years old. The good news for Estrada is there is no real prospect at 2B in Delmarva this year unless the Orioles want to start Young at Delmarva (I think they will start him in Aberdeen) and then him and Holliday will play some 2B when not playing SS. So that's a long winded way of saying if Estrada is impressive this spring, he could get the jump to Delmarva sooner than later, even if it's not out of spring training.

Ok, I guess I didn't understand what you meant by your comment then. What was someone going "run with" then? Why did you think that statement was something someone "would run with?"

I don't know if we want to rehash this argument, but Bauer is the only guy out there that could be a TOR for this team this year, assuming he looks like he did prior to his suspension. I'd much rather have him at the top of the rotation than Gibson (From a pitching standpoint).

My guess with the Hall situation is that they will stretch him out as a starter, but they know it will take an injury to make the major league rotation. Depending on how he looks (basically how many strikes he's throwing), it's not out of the question that they decide to move him to the bullpen, particularly if there is an injury or implosion by Akin or Perez. The Orioles would really like to have 3 lefties in the pen with Akin keeping that long role. Hall could be that 3rd lefty if they team decides his future really is in the pen. I certainly understand the reluctance to make that call but we saw flashes of what he could be out there at the end of last season. Saying that, the Hall we saw early last year as a starter was very impressive at times as well, and he held his stuff well into the 90 pitch area. Ay the end of the day he can strike guys out with three pitches (fastball, change, slider) and he'll even flash an interesting curveball at times so he's a 4-pitch guy who can miss bats. That's a tough call to send to the pen. Now, if it's me, I'm going to send him back to AAA (Sorry SG ) and put him in the rotation and have give him at least 5-6 starts as long as everyone stays healthy on the big league team. Now, if Perez suffers some regression and the team ends up with a late inning left-handed pitcher need, it's going to be hard not to bring him up and give him that role. I've seen some evaluators out there kind of give up on Hall and I think they've done that prematurely. While I'm not convinced he's a starter long term due to a lot of deep counts, I do think he's going to end up an impact pitcher in some role at the big league level.

What's controversial about that? I've already said he's the best defensive shortstop I've seen coming up through the system since I've been covering them. A young Machado was probably the best before him.

Got to imagine he will get at least 5-10 more AA starts at the very least in 2023.

I've heard a few things and have a few observations from the guys they ten to draft/acquire. Pitch shaping is certainly one of things I've heard from different sources that they look for. From the true spin of a fastball to spin on their breaking balls, they a looking for guys that fit that mix. Everyone looks for tall guys so that's not new, but obviously they look for guys with quick arms and with good chances to increase velocity after signing with the right program.

Anyhoo, who do you think is not in the top 100 this year will be next year? If I had to pick 1 guy who was not named in any top 100 lists that I've seen, I'm going with......... Samual Basallo

I think that's the reason for the slightly bloated NRI this year.