Tony-OH

Did we ever get confirmation that the cash considerations was "and" not "for"? thought it said for, which suggests the Orioles gave KC money. Now it could have been for a roll of quarters to play Galaga! Of course this brings me too, why in the world would KC offer him arbitration in the first place then DFA him after the Rule 5 draft? Talk about weird.

This is such an unnecessary comment. This is a discussion board. You can dislike something a GM does and not necessary dislike him as a GM as a whole. Why this is a foreign concept to some around here is an unsolved Hangout mystery.

I don't think that's true, but I'm not an expect on these contracts. IF, nd that's a big IF, if the Orioles did take on that $1.4 million and they knew they would have to pay him that as depth in AAA, that would open up a whole other can of worms about the use of limited resources. How happy would Gunnar be knowing he will be making more than him while playing first base in Norfolk?

I think that's what had people trying to figure out his PAs. Kinda goes to show that no one outside of the that warehouse really knows what's going on.

Maybe Rio Ruiz is out there somewhere?

I believed I used Odor as an example of playing a guy who clearly was bad long after they should of stopped playing him and fearing they would do the same with O'Hearn. At the end of the day, you were right about calling this another DFA, 40th man on the roster move. Honestly, at this point, it's just something to talk about about since Elias has given us one of the bigger disappointing offseason in some time.

And all of that was a waste of the Orioles front office time now wasn't it? All we have out of that is two bad AAA depth catchers in the organization that could have been found or resigned as free agents like every other teams does. The fact that so many were available showed how silly it was to put Nottingham on the 40-man roster so they can have time to "sign him" to a split contract. Maybe if those analysts working on that catcher problem was working on our starting pitching and MOO needs, we wouldn't have Gibson and Frazier for $19 million next year and be no better then we were last year.

Ok, you are right in that take. Did I say anywhere that you were not right in that take? I said he was not going to make that money in AAA. I was right, so I don't even understand why you running around gloating like you won some prize. There was a lot of comments being made. I don't even remember what I was responding to, but I was making a point about guys who make money and whether they will be in major leagues or not. I never once said O'Hearn is definitely going to be on opening day nor did I ever say he was going to be in the lineup everyday. Go back and find that because I know I neve said it. Gheese, some of you make it your mission in life to try and find where I made a mistake. Trust me, I do make mistakes, but in this one, I was just trying to tell people that he was not going to be AAA depth making $1.4 million. I will guarantee you that is correct.

What the heck are you talking about? I was right, they are not going to have a $1.4 million player in AAA. They DFA'd him before having to pay him. What I said was true. One-year contracts are not guaranteed until opening day unless that was changed in the last bargaining agreement. How is that hard to understand? I'm not squirming out of anything.

The sad part is this is all that Elias has given Orioles fans to discuss. Really sad.

Wait, who penciled him into a lineup everyday? I know I just said if he's making $1.4 million it won't be at AAA. Other people were just figuring out where he would get hi PAs? You know, discussion board stuff. I don't recall you stating that he would be DFA'd soon for another player. Did I miss where you called that? Why would you think this is something you should gloat about when no one said what you are saying and I don't recall you saying he would be DFA'd before the season. Maybe I missed something here.

You mean discuss thoroughly the merits of a players and then try and understand why the organization keeps spending time in the trash heap instead of acquiring impact players? I mean it's easy to just go, "Elias know everything so I shall just support anything he does and laugh at all who dare provide FACTS that would indicate he may not be flawless?" This is a discussion board. If people don't like a move and show information on why, it's not crying. You would think after all the years of being here this would seep in, but no, you prefer to just sit in your orange bubble of goodness and attack anyone who dares to say something negative about a move. Your act is old.

Why, I've been very consistent with my take on this offseason. Why would I want to revisit my other takes? He's been operating in the trashdump and Dollar General store all winter, but actually bought a diamond ring from Wallmart in Frazier.

As someone who was blacklisted by the PR department, I understand this. But Elias allowed it to happen and so did guys that used to go to bat for me like Greg Bader, so I agree, if you are not going to tout the company line or be part of a national or major media outlet, they will remove your access. They really want MASN to be where they can pass their information so they can control the message. They even brought in a guy from a major media outlet known for pushing propaganda to control the message. At the end of the day, that's how the Orioles and the Ravens work. So don't expect any hard hitting interviews or more than fluff being put out.

As an analyst by trade, I tend to agree with you though I'm not ready to go full on board because of Elias risk aversion that we've so far. I do think Elias did not get a budget he was expecting and is now trying to piece together a roster with said budget. We'll know for sure once spring training starts. If he has not added any high priced players in trades, then yes, I think it's fair to conclude he's under ownership driven budgetary limitations.

At the end of the day, it's hard to argue with anything you said here. So far, this offseason has been nothing but treading water at best. It appears he's hoping for big years from Adley and Gunnar as well as bounce back from Mountcastle and Hays. I remain hopeful there will be a "wow" trade coming up, but for now, this has been a poor offseason for Elias and the Orioles.

I doubt Bowden is just making something up while sitting at home. Your statement of a simple law of averages does not make a lot of sense when we are talking about free agency. I'm not going to argue how hard the Orioles tried, but I do believe they thought they could get a Bassitt-type but the market went higher then either Elias was allowed to go, or his risk aversion kicked in and he was unwilling to go higher to get those pitchers. At the end of the day, whether they were "aggressive" or not, they failed on their objective to get a "2nd or 3rd" tier pitcher. I agree with you that Gibson is a Lyles type 4th starter type who eats innings. He's not the answer to their issue for a top flight starter. I guess all I'm saying is I think the Orioles were involved with some of these names and perhaps were "aggressive" early on with offers before getting beaten by others. Personally, I would have done the Bassitt deal and I'm disappointed that they couldn't get that done. Bottom line, Elias has failed so far to acquire that top starting pitcher this team needs as well as a true MOO. There's still time on the trade market to get something done, but he has not completed these kinds of trades before so we don't know how it will work out.

This I agree with 100%. The core of the best prospects is here and ready to go. It was time to surround them with top tier major league talent. So far, Elias has failed to do so.

I don't really see what's wrong with this reporting. He said the Orioles were "aggressive" on going after the mid-Tier starting pitching and we heard many other reports that the Orioles were in on several of the guys who signed elsewhere. Obviously, we can all argue to death over what aggressive means in this instance, but I do believe the Orioles most likely made offers to some of those pitchers, just they weren't willing to go to the lengths it took to get them. Whether that's because of financial restraints put on by ownership or Elias' risk aversion to multi-year contracts is what's unknown.

This is a good point. Obviously Rajsich had good success with that drafting Grayson and DL Hall in those middle 1st round area.

The Orioles probably would think so too so you have that going for you. Honestly, it doesn't have to be the entire draft, but at the end of the day, we can look at the system and see that we have depth at positional prospects but lack quality starting pitching prospects. I know they think they can develop them, but and they have remade Kremer and Bradish (though they were both good arms and thought of as prospects before), but I'd like to see them use some high picks on good arms. At some point, we are running out of playing time for guys who need playing time but are throwing out non prospects, even to start throughout the organization. The other thing is we have not seen Elias show the ability to trade depth position prospects for upper level pitching prospects or major league ready arms yet. I know you are going to come back with something along the line of this winter isn't over yet, which I would agree, and why I said yet! Either way, while I understand the concern about getting arms that break more times than not, at some point we need quantity to overcome that.

There's a better chance of Elias leaving for a better situation than being fired.

So here's O'Hearn outs and singles last year (overlayed to Camden Yards). As you can see, there are ton of groundouts in shallow RF. Infielder will need to be on the dirt this year so you have to wonder if that will get him a few more hits.

We shall see. They found a lot of PAs for Odor even after they were contending, and he was terrible. Until Elias/Hyde proves otherwise, we have to assume vets will gets their PAs on their watch. I hope we have better options than O'Hearn at 1B/DH, but for now, I'd pencil him onto the 26th man roster with ample playing time against right-handers.