Tony-OH

I have to imagine all the unknowns to the start of the major league season as well the possible split start to the minors could affect the people invited: Sayin that, these are some people under contract right now who could get invites in my opinion: Pitchers: Tom Eshleman Kevin Smith Kyle Bradish Conner Greene Marcos Diplan Fernando Abad Claudio Custodio Zach Muckenhirn Catchers Austin Wynns Taylor Davis Nick Ciuffo Adley Rutschman 1st Base Chris Shaw Utility Steve Wilkerson Terrin Vavra Now typically the Orioles pull over multiple minor league players not on official invites and this year it might be weird depending on whether they can employ an advanced minor league camp like they've done in the past. Did I miss anyone obvious?

Preliminarily I'd put him at 19 ahead of Alex Wells and behind the two high ceiling high school draft picks and two international league guys. I like hearing about the good statcast info even during his "down year" in AA in 2019. I have a bigger issue with him getting moved a round a bit defensively with a pretty high error % at 2B. If he were a shortstop of could play there it would give him more value of course.

Not surprised at all. He'll probably end up playing corner outfield/1B/DH at Norfolk and provide some left handed power there. He's better than promoting Preston Palmeiro to play 1B at Norfolk.

I will never understand this comparison. Stewart has already had some success at the major league level, is younger, faster, and has shown significantly more ability to get on base.

Getting Jahmai Jones in return for Cobb while getting rid of some of that salary is a pretty good deal overall for the Orioles. Jones is interesting because he has some upside to him, even if he ends up more of a utility outfield, second base guy. It will be interesting to see if Elias is allowed to use that money he saved to get a guy like Franco in at 3B or a veteran starting pitcher that could be potentially moved for prospects at the trading deadline this season. As a 40-man roster guy, he will get his opportunity in the spring but I imagine he's heading to AAA to start the year.

Really sad and Steve did a wonderful job eulogizing him in this piece. I never had many interactions with him, but the few I did he was very cordial and professional. RIP.

I honestly don't understand his take here? How does that offer hurt the players? They get full pay for 154 games, and expanded opportunities to make more from playoff money? I'm not a fan of delaying the season and rather them play fanless or spread out with 25% capacity for a month and start on time, but I know they are trying to limit games without fans.

This is certainly a position that Elias may look for other alternatives no in the organization through either waiver claims or small free agent signing. Maikel Franco could make some sense if he wants a hitter friendly place to play on a one year deal and hope to hit pay dirt next offseason as a free agent when teams may be more willing to pay.

That's an undestandable opinion, but Cobb did have the potential to be good next year and could have possibly gotten a better return at the All-star break or even before. But, it would be a significant risk considering his injury history.

I have no insights on what is going in the ownership or front office currently, but judging by his actions this off season, I'm guessing Elias was given a pretty tight budget to work within this season.

I'll wait to see on the return to decide what kind of move this was. If it's just a salary dump, then all the Orioles did was make themselves worse for 2021 and saved money. That will be disappointing but not surprising consider the other money saving things this organizations has been doing. My guess is we won't get much of a return unless we eat a significant part of that $15 million.

Maybe, or maybe the book wasn't out on him yet like it was in Double-A? Guess we'll find out.

Wait, you're telling me Mountcastle is unranked by Law? Say it aint so! lol That guy is one of those guys that will stick with his initial calls and never back off them regardless of the information at hand now. I guess he's decided Rodriguez is not a reliever now to have him at 55. lol

How does strength make you better at 3B? from what I heard, he's very stiff and doesn't have an accurate arm to be a 3B at the major league level.

This year's placements are probably going to be very strange due to the lost year. I agree though that Nevin's assignment could go either way and also could be affected by playing time and spring performance.

Not surprised at all. My only surprise was that he was claimed in the first place.

No doubt, especially based on who is already in there.

Whoever was the scout that recommended the two pitchers they got in return obviously did not care about movement on fastballs. Jacobson may have had the truest fastball I'd ever seen, and Hoey wasn't much better.

It's interesting how each GM has their plusses and minuses. MacPhail's was certainly a good trader. He wasn't an organization builder or a leader that used his subordinates strengths towards the organization's advantage, but his Bedard and Hardy trades alone set the pieces towards rebuilding a winning major league team.

Exactly. The catching situation is fine until AR arrives. I would though like to see them sign a veteran for AAA as depth.

Perhaps he has some low ball offers out there for a guy he thinks he can move at the trading deadline, but i doubt we see a guy be given a spot. With Akin, Kremer, and Zimmerman ready now, Baumann probably just as close, Lowther, Wells and Smith close behind, I sure hope he doesn't start throwing innings at guys that won't move the needle or bring back much in trade. It's time to start giving these guys major league innings.

The Galvis signing makes more sense knowing this.

Thanks for posting that. I know I've read that before and I probably should have brought that up. I've done a lot of research into the statcast/Hawk-Eye cameras information and agree, there's a ton more to analyze and figure out, but it's fascinating for me because for once, there is no math really involved, just cold hard data to measure up against others in similar situations. I'm also interested in Bauer's units to see if I can correlate why certain guys can get away with 91 MPH fastball when others can't. I just wish I had the data for the Orioles minor leaguers.

Depends on your definition of significant. Last year was a weird year to evaluate because of everything going on. Saying that, when someone drops significantly in an area when approaching the age in which drops off start to occur my freauwently, they should be cause for concern. Concern doesn't mean an absolute decision can be made, but clearly baseball executives have concerns over Galvis due to the fact he was available so cheaply (in MLB terms). Now, the Orioles have more information than what's listed on the baseball savant site and of course it's being reported that Galvis put on weight last year that may have been the cause of his decline defensively. If Galvis has taken that weight off, ha a good offseason, perhaps he can get back to that GG-caliber defense at SS. If he does, than it's probably worth it to the Orioles since they have a young pitching staff with potentially three rookies in the rotation to start 2021. But this idea that you just ignore last year's information because of SSS is silly in my opinion. You may put it into context due to the amount of sample size, but it's part of the equation no doubt. But remember, age is a factor here as well. While 31 is not old per se, it's not often that players improve much at all at that age. Saying all that, the fact that there could be a reason for his decline last year (weight) and that it may have been solved gives me more hope of a rebound.

I don't buy that. First, these guys have been evaluated through the minors. Second, players can nd do improve at the major league level, and sometimes year to year, but the good thing about statcast/Hawk-Eye cameras information is that it gives you jumps, bursts and route times so it really indisputable. I think after about 40 games of so you have a pretty good baseline for information using statcast/Hawk-Eye cameras data.