Tony-OH

He threw today like he did this spring. Not sure what happened to him in Norfolk. Not a lot of consistent work down there and definitely not a lot of success. I liked him in the spring and then he just imploded in AAA. Not sure they can DFA that arm though now. Anderson has to go before him.

Looks like there was a mistake and he was sent more appropriately to Aberdeen. He's starting tonight in RF for the Ironbirds.

Frobby, you are have a unique talent to look at every single sentence and find the one thing that may not be 100% correct even if its said in a quick manner. Bravo. Add in mostly before my statement if it makes you feel better!

They've been using the orange team to rehab pitchers and to give low prospect guys a chance before getting cut. It's an interesting concept.

Greene is an interesting guy to bring up. He's clearly a guy that can DFA'd once they need 40-man room but he sure has been a disappointment this year in Norfolk after having a real nice spring training. He does throw hard, but has only pitched once since June 26th. He's just an innings eater to be used in an emergency. At least there is a some good news with Bruce Zimmermann starting his rehab down in the FCL.

That velocity drop should have been a red flag.

They've been using Peralta as a starter most of the year and may continue to do so, but I think his future will end up in the pen. they need to find out whether he can pitch on back to back days if needed where he could bring his upper 90s heat. He could be a Tate replacement.

All good moves. Looking forward to putting eyes on the short right-handed Pinto to see if he's guy or not. It was time for Baumann to take that step as his command has come around of late. Always interesting when they have to pitch with the major league ball at AAA and how long it takes to adjust. Young is the most interesting of the free agent pitchers signed last year so glad to see him challenged at Aberdeen. Rom to Bowie make a lot of sense. It will be interesting to see how his stuff plays against Double-A hitters. I'm hoping they move Peralta to a reliever role and see how he looks there. It was time to see how he spins a major league ball. Vespi is really moving and it's clear the Orioles think he's close to being a big league left-handed reliever, perhaps a replacement for Scott or Fry is they are dealt. The only one missing here is Felix Bautista. While command is still not good, it's better and it's time to see what he looks like with a major league ball against more mature AAA hitters.

It would wouldn't it? He came back for two games then disappeared again. Unfortunately the Orioles are like getting secrets out of the Kremlin when it comes to injury issues for their minor leaguers. Never seen anything like it and I've gone all the way to Elias to try and get it resolved but apparently, it comes from him since I was told they are all on the same sheet of music when it comes to giving out information. Doesn't change how they are rebuilding from my perspective, but it's annoying as a guy who has covered the team for this long to need it to be leaked out or wait until they give it to their MASN guys. Fans are following the minors and the Orioles only want to feed them good news stories and propaganda. It is what it is, but it's disappointing.

Mundy has been hurt and out of the lineup lately. He's only played two games (23 and 24th) since July 15th.

Agree, I think Means and Mullins are one year away from being at top value. Means because of his health and Mullins needs to prove over more than one year.

Heck Hobgood wasn't even the worse pick in this draft. The Padres took high school CF Donovon Tate and gave him $6.25 million only to see him slash .226/.331/.321/.652 in 1229 PAs while never getting above High-A.

But again, that was not the case. I had a good relationship back then with Joe and spent hours watching minor league games with him and chatting. Matzek and Wheeler were the other two guys he was considering but If I remember right, Wheeler had makeup issues he was concerned about and Matzek's contract demands scare him and many other teams off. Remember, this was before the slotting system and back when agents could hold their high value high school clients out for huge sums of money throughout the whole winter if they wanted to. I think Joe allowed Hobgood's personality and story to affect him too much. He told me that he felt all three were about the same talent wise, but that Hobgood's character and known contract demands helped him become the pick. Obviously Joe would like that pick back and he and his scouts obviously missed on the talent level of Hobgood though I think injuries sapped his stuff as well. The one thing to note, neither Wheeler or Matzek really worked out for their drafting teams. So was money a factor, sure, but it was more because Matzek's demands were reportedly outrageous (that's why he fell to 11 and then he settled for the 5th highest bonus) and Wheelers' "makeup issues +sketchy salary demands) made Hobgood seem like the safer pick with similar talent. Jordan ended up wrong, but his risk assessment was that Hobgood was the safer of the picks to sign of the three "equally talented" pitchers.

This is completely not true. I've spoke ad nauseam over why Jordan selected Hobgood and although money was a factor, it was not because Angelos limited his budget or told him to pick.

So you trust a BA rankings over a professional scouting department with many full time employees, scouts, and analysts because it fits your agenda? Guess what? Some of the players Elias selected are not going to make it, and in fact, most won't. That's exactly how the MLB draft works. Despite all the advancements, it's still a bit of a crap shoot and after the first 5 rounds or so, it's definitely a crap shoot. Since I don't scout 1000s of players nor do I have a staff of scouts and analysts, I'll take a wait and see approach to how Elias' scouting team has done, but you know what I won't do? I won't assume a publication has more data and information than a professional scouting department so I take these rankings with a grain of salt. When you read up on the players selected by Elias, you can see the tools and promise in each. Now it's up to them and the Orioles development staff to try and shape them into major leaguers. Don't get me wrong, you can have any opinion you like, and I won't argue with slashing of money at MASN as being just plain cheap, but we have a minor league team owned by a HoF former Orioles legend that is too cheap to have a radio announcer and graphics for balls and strikes for their terrible three camera broadcast on MiLB Tv, so let's remember, they aren't the only cheap owners around here.

Have you ever gone back and looked at your posts and just shaked your head and gone, "Damn, I was wrong there?" They spent nearly all of there cap money and may still spend it all if they sign their last guy. There was clearly no "Angelos directive" to save money on this draft unless you think the directive went like this: "Dear Mike, please save me at least 100K because I have my eye on some outdoor furniture for the mansion and my inheritance has not come through yet!"

It is a tough decision because the fans, teammates, coaches and pretty much everyone loves Mancini. But the honest truth is he doesn't fit into this rebuild especially since his replacement (Mountcastle) is here. The return is the key. You don't give Mancini away nor do your dump him in an obvious salary dump this offesason. The other thing is I would love to see him have a chance to win a World Series while he still good, and his skill set is one that generally begins to fall off in the early 30s. Let's face it, Elias knows this and he's not exactly known for making heart string moves. My guess is if a team offers up at least one top ten prospect and a couple of other 10-20 types, Mancini will be moved.

Eh, just popped up in my tweetDeck feed so I shared it. Agreed though, if they are just regurgitating what others are reporting they should credit the person.

Just make sure if the Orioles do make a trade it gets it's own thread. Thanks.

Seriously, stop..

He's a HoF catcher knocker for sure!

And personally, I'd rather have a good defense and run guy as my 4th outfielder than a Stewart kind of guy because he can help you late in games more.