Tony-OH

Bases loaded and not outs and the Orioles come up empty. Things we should probably get used to.

Dwight Smith Jr. starts off like he ended off last year. Making one out was not good enough!

The reports that said Chris Davis looks huge were not wrong.

Hanser Alberto, the master of hitting them where they aint!

Really nice Changeup by LeBlanc then came back with a knee high 86 MPH fastball.

Yeah, definitely the B maybe C team today for the Red Sox.

LeBlanc working 87-88 inside to the lefties..

Orioles played their first game so more official rosters. You are more than welcome to keep putting them out though.

It's spring training for everyone!

Akin, Kremer, Wells, Zimmerman, and Lowther. Stewart and Hess will work in the bullpen.

But that's what makes Philip a good poster because he brings up discussion points and adds to the board vs providing a social media troll like response that adds nothing to the board.

1. I think this is the year the Orioles have Sisco sink or swim with the bat. They could send him back, but I think he ends up having a good spring and they basically make him the full time DH vs righties. 2. Smith is a terrible option in LF, but who on the current roster will start over him? Williams? Potentially because he will be a much better defender in LF. This is a position I think the Orioles will be watching the waiver wire late in the spring. Would not surprise me in the least that Smith is not on the roster and someone else not in camp is the starting LF. 3.Nunez is not a good defender, but he's a much better hitter than Ruiz and the Orioles need to see over a full season if he can handle the position. Ruiz was -5 Outs above average and -2% success rate added as a defender so it's not like his defense was a plus. Ruiz is a well below average hitter. Nunez was -5 OOA (less games as Ruiz) with the Orioles in 2018 at 3B, and a -5% added. At the end of the day, Nunez has a better arm (though maybe not as accurate) and he's potentially part of the future while Ruiz is not a major leaguer. 4. LeBlanc is here to eat innings whether they be in the rotation or as a long reliever. He very well could get cut (as I said he's vulnerable) and signing Milone might make that easier, but I think he ends up making it and eventually gets cut when someone is ready to take those innings from the minors.

1B Trey Mancini 2B Hanser Alberto SS Jose Iglesias 3B Renato Nunez C Pedro Severino LF Dwight Smith Jr. CF Austin Hays RF Anthony Santander DH Chris Davis C Bryan Holoday OF Mason Williams UTL Andrew Velazquez UTL Chance Sisco (DH) SP John Means SP Alex Cobb SP Asher Wojcieowski SP Wade LeBlanc SP Tommy Milone RP Mychal Givens RP Hunter Harvey RP Richard Bleier RP Miguel Castro RP Shawn Armstong RP Cole Sulser RP Paul Fry RP Brandon Bailey LeBlanc might not make it if he pitches poorly then I could see Bailey being a starter and either Rucker or Tate getting a chance in the pen. Armstrong also is on the bubble and could be beaten out by Tate, Stewart, or Tanner Scott could break camp. I think they will end up sending Ruiz back to AAA and give Nunez the starting 3B job in order to give Sisco PAs as a DH and occasional catcher. Obviously the Davis situation makes this up in the air because they could just send Sisco back to catch everyday in AAA and that would open a spot of for Urias or a playing acquired. Dwight Smith Jr. is a bubble guy if a better option comes up on the waiver wire. If Stewart was going to be healthy I'd say he would be the starter in LF and Smith would be DFA'd. Lots of ways this can be very different. Should be interesting.

I agree. Basically it's Hyde saying he appreciates all the work he did but it's time to show it on the field during spring training.

Well there's not much else to talk about and of course the manager is going to be saying positive things right now. Nobody wants to ruin the vibe which is why you have to look out for what's not being said. Who's not being pointed out in coming to camp in great shape or looking good. They are not going to point it out, but it's what they don't say that sometimes speaks volumes!

You are really bringing it this year Steve. Great job once again!

Tell you what, the one thing that is clear from reading this thread is that announcers are certainly "personal taste" for the viewer/listener. Some people love a guy/gal, some dislike them. Kudos to the Orioles bring some different perspectives. Personally I hope some of the new announces will delve into the stat cast era of statistics and not worry about how many "steaks" a player has. Saying that, it must be a balance for there a lot of older fans who don't understand or want to understand these new stats. No offense to anyone, but the fact there is little chance of a Hunter/Bordick booth made my day. Nothing worse then having our announcers act like you just collected a game winning HR in the bottom of the 9th when it's a meaningless home run down 10-2 in the 8th inning. The appropriate amount of excitement for the moment was a struggle for Hunter. I also hope none of the new announcers will come from that same "describe everything the TV camera shows" to the TV viewer who is watching the same thing. Also, during replays, don't describe what happened again, provide actual analysis or if there is none to add, allow it to just happen. Either way, I look forward to the new crews to see what they add.

How else will you get those cringe worthy interviews of player's moms and kids during the broadcast?

yep

The Orioles likes his flexibility of playing CF, plus SS. They think he has a slight defensive edge at SS to Urena. Add in his speed and think of him as a better, more defensively flexible Steve Wilkerson.

The other bright side is that the Terps continually show the ability to "turn it back on" when they need to when things get close. It would be nice if this team could focus for all 40 minutes. Saying that, Northwest did play very well during that span which highlighted even more.

Glad you added an "s" at the end of that.

Here's Davis statcast numbers since 2015: (The ball was juiced in 2019 so the slight improvements are really still a degraded state when put into consideration to everyone else's jump) Barrel % 2015 17.6 (top 1% of league) 2016 15.1 (top 3% of league) 2017 12.8 (top 9% of league) 2018 10.2 2019 10.5 Exit Velocity 2015 91.8 (top 6% of league) 2016 90.8 2017 89.9 2018 89.0 2019 89.1 K% 2015 31.0 (bottom 2%) 2016 32.9 (bottom 1%) 2017 37.2 2018 36.8 2019 39.5 xwOBA 2015 .390 (top 3%) 2016 .351 2017 .312 2018 .239 2019 .263 (bottom 1%) So what we have here is he's hitting ball less hard each year, barreling less, and striking out more. Last season he hit fastballs better (.243 BA/.248 xBA) than he has since 2015 (.295 BA/.273 xBA) but basically couldn't hit breaking (.095 BA/.141 xBA) and offspeed pitches (.103/.191 xBA) which tells me he was sitting dead red most of the time which could because his bat is slowing (drop in EV and barreling suggest this as well).

I do think teams play their A games against us, but special teams typically put a stomping on these kinds of teams. This is a weird team though, but until they win the Big-10 conference and make it to the elite 8, I'm going to be skeptical.

You know, besides about 10 minutes in the second half, they played really well tonight. Stix was absolutely a beast with 22 points and 19 rebounds tonight. Two game lead with Penn State's loss tonight, but a real tough last five games. Let's see what they got.