Tony-OH

You literally said I showed some skepticism over Basallo and that you pointed out his age and got "shouted down." Neither of which is true statement which is why I gave you the down vote (which I rarely do). I would hope you would accurately depict what I wrote in the future vs using not just a "too harsh" of an adjective in "skepticism," but using the wrong word at all. If you are going to suggest I said something about a prospect, I just ask that your accurate depict what I said. Your original statement made it sound like I suddenly questioned Basallo after his slow start. I give out information on prospects and sometimes it's to point out their struggles. I pointed out how unbalanced Basallo was early i the season and how he did not look like that last year. That was a true statement. I did not follow that up with questioning him as a prospect or being skeptical of his prospect status. Oh, and BTW, I've given you upvotes of late as well. I don't hold grudges and typically give an upvote shortly after giving a down vote, which I only give when I'm misquoted or the post is against our rules significantly.

I'll be honest, he's surprised me a bit with his defense and speed this year. His spring speed is 67th percentile and better yet, he's looked pretty decent, if not a little awkward, even while playing giant left field in Camden yards. Now, saying that, his reaction times have been quite poor (-2.9 ft/sec) and his burst is not great (-1.1 ft) but his routes have been pretty good and he's still getting used to MLB stadiums with upper decks. Heck, he even maxed at a 96.1 MH throw which is more arm strength then I've seen before. So I have to give him some credit for doing some things this offseason to better his defensive abilities. Even Colton Cowser, who is is 9 OAA this year in the outfield and covers 34.8 ft/sec (1.3 ft better than average) was 1-.2 last year so sometimes it takes a bit. Is Kjerstad better suited for RF than LF in Camden Yards, sure, but his defense has actually been ok out there. He's playable and should get better.

Huh? I did no such thing. I may have pointed out his poor start like I point out lots of things, but at no point, and I mean no point, not even in the furthest of miscommunications could anyone decipher that I posted some skepticism over Basallo. What I pointed out was how unbalanced at the plate he was early in the season. He was. I didn't state anything other than that. I was an early adopter of him as a prospect, I knew his age and his elbow injury coming into this season, and I know that catching takes toll. You are sounded mistaken or misinformed or misremembering. I've said since last year that he very well may be the best prospect in the system, bar none. His upside with the bat is immense with only Mayo having similar upside for power. And you think you are the one who brought up his age like everyone else did not know? Ridiculous.

Drop the mic and walk off. Well done.

Obviously I'm going to put more weight into what Elias tells the media because he's a pretty straight shooter, but sometimes things change. No one really knows how quick of a healer Bautista is and maybe he's ahead of schedule? Maybe not. I'm going to assume Bautista is not going to pitch at all this season and if he does, I'll take it as a pleasant surprise.

Perhaps, I don't really know. Since my press credentials were not renewed after COVID, I don't really know the new announcers besides Brett Hollander, due his WBAL days. I knew Arnold a little bit from his Frederick time. Either way, I don't get the impression that Melanie talks out of turn or doesn't know what she can or can't say. Perhaps she was talking to Hyde and he said something offhand like, "Maybe even Bautistsa will be ready by the playoffs." Who knows? I've been in a lot of situations talking with players and coaches and I knew what I could or could not say and when it was appropriate to report something, even if it was from an "unnamed source." I'm fairly certain Melanie would not still have a job with the Orioles if she did not know this by now too.

Well, they got some good starts from Bradish so we'll see if that helps them win the AL East. If they win it by a game or two you can say he had an impact on this season. Bradish could still be back by the end of 2025 if everything goes smoothly.

Not to turn this into a Melanie Newman thread again, but she's actually not too bad when she's doing the color part of the broadcast. She'll drop some meaningful statistical information occasionally and the other day she said something (can't remember exactly what it was) and I was like, "Hmm, not bad Melanie" in my head. The issue is she just too slow in describing the action and does not paint a good enough picture of where the balls are hit or the likely outcome. An example would be something like this. "He hits a skyball into the deep blue sky....(second of pause) the outfielder is going out for it but he won't get it. And Henderson is on second for a double. We don't know where, how far, or what the action was other than the ball was a skyball and the outfielder misses it. She'll then go back and explain in more detail what happened. I better call would be "Henderson lines a ball into deep right center, the center fielder is going over quickly but it's going to fall in, Henderson is rounding first, heading for second as the CF throws the ball in to the cut off as Henderson walks into second with a standup double." Now we have a much better picture of what happened in our minds. Arnold gets too wordy at times too and sometimes gets behind but he's still better overall and has the best radio voice. Brett Hollander is the best at PBP in my opinion despite my "dislike" for him calling the Orioles "Baltimore" like an away/national announcer.

That was an absolute hail mary. I think they were hoping for some kind of Bradish recovery from PRP where it just buys him time and that they could use him in the playoffs. At the end of the day, they should have just had the surgery right away. I guess they assumed he would be out no matter what this season, but guys have recovered within 12 months before and had they done pretty much right away, he probably would have had a chance to pitch in the playoffs. Either way, I don't doubt Newman has heard something though. Just because she's not a good radio PBP person does not mean she's not a good reporter or knows her baseball. I didn't hear what was said, but I doubt very much she was just making stuff up.

Nothing in his statcast numbers or minor league numbers suggests he's a major league pitcher anymore. This is his stuff in his best start of the year on June 6th, when he allowed 1 ER over 7 innings. He has not been very good since. A 16% whiff rate against AAA guys and an 86% zcontact% suggests he's going to get hit hard at the major league level. Besides replacing the released Teheran, not sure what value he would have other than eating innings in Norfolk, and it sounds like he's done with the minor leagues or needs to be on the 40-man roster for some amount of days so he can reach some kind of MLB compensation package. I think he's a hard pass.

Krook goes when Burnes comes off paternity list, Vespi will go when Kremer is eligible. He goes into the rotation and Irvin probably goes to the bullpen as long relief to see if he can figure things out.

Yet. At the end of the day, tools are what get you the big draft bonus money, but performance is what will get you to the major leagues. I 100% agree with your statement about Bradfield and I still have him high despite Etzel getting the quicker promotion and doing better as a pro. I believe they will promote Bradfield to AA soon unless they have him working on something specific and think he still needs to work on them in A Ball. Once Fabian or Beavers gets promoted to AAA, that will open up a spot for Bradfield to get some AAA reps. I think his performance there will give us a better indication of what they have in him.

Yeah, I expect Vespi to pitch two and if still down by a bunch, bring in Krook to pitch two.

Think we have 4 guys fresh, Krook, Vespi, Akin, and Tate. Luckily they will pitching in garbage time because Irvin decided to embarrass himself on national TV.

Krook, I believe he's still out there.

Dude, how far are you behind?

Irvin just pitching himself out of the big leagues with the way his stuff looks right now.

Why did Hays throw to 3rd? Now two guys in scoring position. Just dumb.

Short pen tonight too. Vespi is going to have to eat at least two innings.

That ball was just smoked though.. Still, wasn't the best route.

Well, the stuff looks good today. I still think we'll get some runs off him the 2nd time through.

Ground breaking...

This is an ESPN game.

Santander does really well going back to his right.

Good Lord Irvin!!