Tony-OH

I haven't liked him a starter since his Bowie season and thought he would end up in relief. The problem is his inconsistent command. Batters hit .321 /.345/543/.888 off him 1-2 counts. That's almost unheard of and speaks to his inability to make quality pitches.

Keegan Akin is doing everything he can to get the Orioles the best pick as possible next year. Who says he's not helping for the future?

It's just one click and it helps!

It's been a long week! Thanks for the reminder.

Can someone start one of these threads about Keegan Akin and hope to get him going? lol

While Ben uses a lot of the same clichés over and over and is little too much of a "homer," he does have very good chemistry with Brown. Right now they are the best duo the team has.

He's a no-brainer for me. He actually doesn't throw a ton of non competitive pitches so although his walk rates are high, it's mostly from batters taking close pitches that they don't swing at because they know they can't hit him. If not for the potential work stoppage, he should be pitching in the major leagues now. I still would like to get him used to the major league all in AAA. Not sure what the hold up there is unless their algorithm is holding him back because of his strike percentage.

The thing that's different about baseball is it's a pastime event. In other words, unlike every other sport, baseball is played every day throughout the summer and it's just something that many of us like to watch, even if we're doing other things. Meaningful baseball is a great sport to watch, but one of the problems is that it's becoming less and less likely that your team is playing meaningful baseball in August and September anymore unless you are one of the few teams competing for a playoff spot. Heck, even teams with big leads in September can become boring because all everyone is waiting for is the playoffs. This is why in my mind a system that allows for more excitement throughout the year and longer playoffs is better. Perhaps going to two 71 or 75 game schedules that ends in mid-September is a good way to start. If the season starts over after a bad first half, teams might think they have a chance to compete in the second half if their teams get hot. MLB would have to increase to 16 playoff teams, but at least most teams would have some thing interesting going on most of the year. Maybe add two teams (Nashville and Las Vegas) and have four 4-team Divisions in each league and then have a balanced schedule across the league. Winner of each half would play each other in 5 game sets for 1st round. If same team wins, the team with best winning percentage in division would be second team. The Divisions would be set by market share over the previous three seasons. And every three years they would be adjusted.

Tampa's management is a in a class of their own. They are playing 3D chess while the rest of the league plays checkers. Can't judge by them.

Nah, still have about 9-10 years and that's retiring way under social security. I'm "only" 51.

Kids and now grand kid are the only reasons I still live up here. I know I will get out when I retire though or at least get a place down in Florida at some point.

This I agree with, but I also have little faith that the player's union will fight too hard for this as they are placating their base of players now and those players still want those early 30s pay days.

If the Orioles need to start Akin next year, they are either decimated by injuries or Elias failed. It's also about learning whether he can be used as reliever. Don't need even 30 innings to find out.

I thought you wanted to start winning next year like I do? Why not try him now when it doesn't matter then run him out there next year in a role no one knows he can handle?

Stewart always seems to have one stretch of extreme hot hitting. It still doesn't take away from the flawed player that he is at the major league level. Maybe he can get and stay scorching hot and have some trade value this offseason? That's really the best case scenario.

This article sounded like it was written by the players union. Very player friendly stuff in there. Most was non sense except the part about paying players earlier and allowing them to become free agents in their prime. This seems like a no brainer.

The guy is getting all of his money. Basically the Orioles paid him to just go away. His legacy will be as the guy who signed the biggest contract in Orioles history, suddenly got small, and stopped hitting. He did what he needed to do to get his big payday and Boros took advantage of an elderly sickly man to get this monstrous payday. The best I can say about this situation is I'm glad it's over and I hopefully don't have to hear Davis' name again.

I think you over estimate the chances of finding a quality big league player in the 3rd round. As Frobby has pointed out, the Orioles have actually been pretty decent over the years in the 3rd round, and yes, I'm sure the team would like more than a 4th outfielder with all of their picks, but it's not going to happen. You get a guy like Watson with some pop and speed in the 3rd round and you see if your development guys can get him to be a better hitter. I don't have a problem with the pick when I look at the tool set Watson carries. Even though he was a senior sign guy and 24 now, he still has time to improve.

I even tweeted about that. That was a good one. Agreed on his Cabrera talk. We're a bad team that he talks about 98% of the time. If he wants to spend some time gushing over a future HoFer who could hit a milestone during the game, I'm fine with that.

Back strain supposedly but he had back issues in the early part of his college career as well I believe. Second base is his best position overall but they were trying him in center.

My biggest concern with Kremer is he hasn't had any sustained success when using the major league ball in the majors or AAA. His curveball was weapon in AA and below and the bite just doesn't look the same.

I think Akin and Kremer could have reliever futures. I'm kinda down on Wells after looking at the statcast data. Just not a lot of room for error and no go to strikeout pitch. He really needs a good changeup to have a chance. Diaz? No plan at the plate, and injuries have softened his tools. I hope he saved his bonus money because for me, his best case scenario is as a 4th outfielder somewhere or as a cheap starter on a lower Division team.

We've had this discussion. We don't agree. You think its easy for starting pitcher to just one day wake up and be a reliever, while I think learning to change your warm up routines, finding out how long he takes to recover, and whether he can pitch often are things you can only find out when tried in relief. Not every failed starter can pitch in relief. It's time to find out whether Akin can.

I really don't know. Seems like more, but I haven't done the research.

I never said it was crazy, just that they're injuries took a toll a bit.