Tony-OH

I'll be honest, I'm sick and damn tired of losing. I'm sick and damn tired of not even being competitive. I'm sick and damn tired of this franchise always being an afterthought and joke to the rest of MLB. I'm frustrated that Mountcastle is going through a sophomore slump. I'm frustrated that the first wave of arms have not been able to get it done at the major league level. I'm frustrated that the guys we would hope to start turning things around have floundered this year. Mountcastle: .564 OPS and 6 to to BB to K ratio in 163 PAs is not a slow start, it's at the embarrassment stage Kremer: 6.35 ERA and 1.59 WHIP in 8 starts over just 34 IP Santander: .551 OPS before his annual injury Stewart: .654 OPS and has already had his annual injury Harvey: out all year, not even rehabbing with his annual injury Akin: Couldn't even make the team out of spring training due to his implosion, 6.14 ERA in 7.1 IP Zimmermann: 4.79 ERA 1,46 WHIP in 35.2 IP Hays: .780 OPS is respectable but has already missed time with his annual injury Realistically, this year has been a worse case scenario outside of Means, Mancini, Mullins and maybe Valdez. I don't see this organization even being a decent for another two more years, and that's only if Baumann, Bradish, Hall and Rodriguez come through and stay healthy, Rutschman can fulfill his promise, and Westburg and Henderson are able to move quickly. i do think it's heading in the right direction when you look at the farm, but the first wave of guys have really set this organization back a few years unless they can find a way to improve. Honestly, I don't see how Elias keeps the coaching staff after this year. No one has really improved, the bullpen has no roles, the young hitters have all regressed besides Mancini (not really young) and Mullins and maybe Hays has stayed the same. The team is going out there and doesn't even look like it should be in the same field as the teams in the Division. I'm just tired of having to look to the future to get my baseball fix. Elias needs to be aggressive in promoting his prospects and needs new blood in the coaching staff because I see very little improvement from the young players. Sorry if you don't agree, but I'm just being honest in how I feel right now.

Radish

Agree on all points, well said. The slider, which has a very similar break (Maybe 1-7 vs 12-6) to his curveball but harder, really is a nice pitch that brought very late and hard. His command of his fastball was off a bit as he missed high quite often, but he certainly looks like a guy who has placed himself right behind Baumann on the start pitching prospect rankings.

I watched his last start and it's hard not to get too excited. He's throwing around 94, and he has a slider and curve that both are swing and miss pitches. The fastball can still be hit a bit if he misses his spot, but he does get some swing and miss as well. Right now, he very well could be right behind Baumann.

He was a man against boys tonight. 94-96, nice hard breaking slider and swing and miss change. He certainly looks ready and healthy for Norfolk. I would not be surprised if he's not in Baltimore by the second half of the season.

Actually I think the Orioles felt they could use Plutko to go one inning as an opener and then give it over to Zimmermann when he could face the back end of the middle of the order or lower. It just failed miserably because Plutko was awful. Personally, I hate the openers and think Zimmermann should have started, but understand what they were trying to do. I wasn't a fan of letting Plutko start as the routine can be quite different from relief, but I don't know if he changed his routine or just had a bad day. Who knows? But I do agree with the posters that there are psychological aspects that have to be taken into consideration with pitchers. Pitchers tend to pitch well in defined roles.

The good news is none of us will be here if that happens. And by the way, this wins "most out there" comment of the day so far. Congrats..

Plutko has become very cutter heavy becoming mainly a cutter/fastball guy as he's only thrown 10 curveballs in his last nine outings and only 29 on the year. The cutter and fastball are similar speeds so when he misses in the middle of the plate, he gets hammered. His fastball has never been a very good pitch and most of the hits he's allowed this year were on fastballs, even fastballs in decent spots which tells me batters see it well. The curveball is a high spin pitch that changes the eye levels and is a pitch with velocity about 14-15 mph slower than his fastball. I tend to agree that Plutko was pitching above his capabilities early on, and why I preferred seeing him in the long 2-3 inning reliever role when the starter comes out early or only goes five innings. The problem is that the Orioles relievers as a whole are not very consistent so Hyde was running out of high leverage guys and started to use Plutko there.

And that Thank God, should be the end of the Chris Davis situation. Lol for Roch putting in the "full spring training" next year line. Hilarious.

I'm not a fan of all this jumping around for players. I kind feel like if you want to give him experience in center field because you think he's going to be a utility guy, then you play him there for a month straight and see how it goes. Same thing with Vavra. If you think Vavra is a your second baseman of the future and he needs to improve, then you keep running him out there. if you think he won't be able to play second base effectively, then put him in the outfield. Vavra has an everyday player's bat so it's time to see where he can play most days unless you feel he's a super utility guy. I'm all about versatility, but just look at the fielding percentages of the Delmarva infield prospects (Henderson, Westburg, Servideo, and Hernaiz) as they move around from position to position. Moving guys constantly around doesn't make anyone for comfortable.

There is something to be said for consistency from posters. lol It's hard not to like what we've seen so far from Vavra offensively.

It was only his second professional game ever in center field. When you move guys around from position to position from game to game, there is a unfamiliarity that comes with a new position. I don't know if his unfamiliarity with playing the outfield contributed to him hitting the wall or not, but it's a risk the organization is taking by moving guys like him and Vavra back and forth between the infield and outfield without a lot of experience in the outfield.

All Johnny Rizer does is hit. For a guy who got a 5K bonus, he's making the most of his opportunity.

Yeah, I don't see the top 5 or 6 being very volatile but I think I will start moving some guys around below that. Also, Zimmerman, Kremer and maybe Akin should graduate the list before the All-star break anyways. Mckenna is theory could as well with amount of time on the 40-man, but he should go back down once Santander is ready.

Kinda. I guess I'm more willing to move guys around lower on the list just because they are a little more volatile. I never intended to move say Rutschman off #1 just because he had a few bad weeks. I've already moved Vavra up because I really like the bat so as we get closer to a month into the season, I will start moving guys around a little more at the top of the list.

I like his swing. It's compact, doesn't have a ton of miss, and he seems to generate decent pop. I want to see him perform over a month or so before putting him on the scene, but I'm paying attention to him no doubt.

There's enough promise here to keep him all season. He's doing fine in the role he's been given and considering the jump of competition, the strike out rate and WHIP really stands out so far. His spin rates on his fastball and spin are above average, and he's got above average chase and Whiff % which are all good signs of the stuff. He's got a chance to still be a starter, but clearly his penchant to give up the longball is something he'll need to improve upon.

Newman is really quite knowledgeable about baseball but her catatonic tone during her radio broadcasts really comes across like a minor league broadcast more than a major league one. She struggles to describe the type of action making it hard to know whether the play was routine or fantastic before the actual play was made. I struggle to understand the flow of the game action when she announces. I think she does much better with the aftergame show and I've heard her on the pregame radio show before and she does quite well when giving analysis. I will say she's the weakest broadcaster of the new blood brought, but she does have some redeeming qualities with her baseball analysis and understanding of the game.

And Brett really knows the minor leagues and he asks excellent questions to Elias and other when he has opportunities. Brett has always been an under utilized entity around Baltimore since he lost his main sports gig when WBAL lost the Orioles broadcasts. I'm glad to see him getting another shot and he's done very well. He teams up very well with Geoff Arnold on the radio. Arnold was a minor league announcer who was ready for the big leagues and he's improved over the last year or so and has good chemistry with both Hollander and Brown.

And this is the beginning for him. The Orioles would do well to get sign him to a contract and make him the lead announcer on TV because if not, he's going to be gobbled up by a national broadcast entity.

Yep. It's pretty clear that he's being used as an org guy and not as a priority play. It will be interesting to see how he hits AA pitching. He may actually hit better because the pitchers are around the plate more. Either way, unless he starts showing up on the boxscore every game, I'm going to assume he's now an org guy.

I'm glad they moved on from Ruiz. He had his chance and has been found wanting at the major league level. Wilkerson is nothing more than a stop gap, but he's versatile, plays hard, and was off to a good start at AAA. Why not?

I hate seeing the criticism of Garceau because he's such a good guy and he has an extensive Baltimore sports background. He's really one of the nicest people you will meet, but I do understand the criticism of his lack of charisma and mistakes during his game calls. I think it stands out so much because he's following Thorne and that Brown is a future star. Plus Arnold and Hollander do excellent jobs as well and I enjoy them on the radio as well. I feel bad because I feel like he was asked to do a job that at this stage of his career, he may not be best equipped to be a main announcer. I can't bring myself to criticize the man because I know he's doing his best, but I will say that I've found myself enjoying games a lot when Brown or even Arnold are doing PBP. As for radio, Brown does very good there as well, but Arnold and Hollander have a good thing going there. Any combination of those three make the radio a good listen.

McCoy can play SS on a fill in/utility type role at the major league level but you would not want him there everyday. He reminds me a bit of Bordick before Bordick's power surge made him a major league star.

I think right now the org wants to see Henderson just get PAs and get some success under his belt. He's getting that at Delmarva. I will say if he's tearing it up still by the end of May, no reason not to challenge him at Aberdeen. Welk and Martinez are both playing at 24 this year so they need to be able to hit High-A ball. Welk can still get his singles, but he's shown no pop so far this year which hurts his prospect status badly, especially after he struggled in his Low-a debut last year after tearing up Aberdeen. He's a line drive hitter who is probably better suited for 1st base or potentially right field than 3rd base. But he'll need to add power to his game or he will quickly become an org guy. Martinez is not a priority play and Welk is quickly becoming not one either so Henderson could get most of PAs at 3B while still getting some SS time with Ortiz moving to 2B or 3B.