Tony-OH

Nobody was. Villar was brought up to show that Elias is shedding salary for shedding salary sakes. It wasn't done to open up playing time for a young player or to get a good return, it was done to save money. When a GM is in the saving money mode, I don't see him giving out a risky long term deal to a young player that will pay him way more than he would be paid under the current collective bargaining agreement. Another thing to consider here is that there will be a new collective bargaining agreement coming up in a couple of years so it doesn't make a ton of sense to sign someone now when the rules could change and potentially favor the club more in the future.

Sure, if the Orioles can sign Hays to some dirt cheap contract like Altuve got then maybe, but that's not what was being discussed.

I completely understand that, but do you really think a GM that is shedding salary for shedding salary sake is going to take on added money now? What makes you think Elias can do anything but shed salary? Elias had an asset and gave it away for nothing over $4-$5 million at most. Any Gm that is forced to make move like that, or even chooses to make moves like this, is not going to just arbitrarily start taking on risky deals that will cause him to pay more now. I understand why some GMs are doing this, but most are doing this while they are fielding a competitive club, not in the early years of a rebuild. Why do you think Elias and the Orioles want to pay $16 million over the next two years (using a 6yr-$50 million contract suggested earlier) for a CF when they could have been paying him a little more than $1 million? The next few years is going to be all about shedding salary and hoping the young players coming up through the system develop. If and when the team is good, and an impact player like Rutchsman is a star, I could see them doing so but I don't think Hays is the guy you do that at this stage of his career and definitely not at this point in the Orioles rebuild.

This is why I hate the internet sometimes. I was not making the correlation between the players (We've beaten the Villar thing to death), just that I don't see Elias adding on unneeded expenses when he's giving away assets like Grandma gives away cookies because he's cutting payroll. When you are cutting salary and are going to stink next year, you don't just give out early, risky deals.

Elias has no motivation to spend money over the next few years so I'd be surprised if he gave out these kinds of contracts. I guess you never know, but he gave away one of his best players over a few million dollars so I don't see him taking on that risk while also having to pay more during these early rebuild years.

The entire concept of this article is foolish of you ask me.

Watching some video of him and his pitches, he mostly gets hurt with sinkers in the middle of the plate. Can flash solid average offspeed, but not consistent. Worth taking a shot on.

Sinker https://sporty-clips.mlb.com/c1bf2bef-aa2a-4b03-bc6b-389f531dc385.mp4 4-seamer https://sporty-clips.mlb.com/c2545a44-14a3-429a-a0cb-9855a39ee919.mp4 Slider https://sporty-clips.mlb.com/2215ac13-055e-4c3e-a6a5-d15723ec76d5.mp4 Curve https://sporty-clips.mlb.com/1e93ffe0-6b00-4b28-86dc-1068e969fbb0.mp4 Change https://sporty-clips.mlb.com/c941e40b-c1a2-4a14-ba9c-163e805d167b.mp4

Not sure as I don't really follow the recruiting process that closely. Saying that, i haven't read of any big recruits being linked to Maryland because i think it's getting around that Turgeon doesn't develop players well and his lack of success in the tourney is a tough sell to big time players. I'm resigned to the the fact the Terps basketball team will remain an underachiving bunch as long as Turgeon is here. I'll still try to watch them when i can, but I'm not spending my money to watch them or going out of way to watch the games like I've done in the past. Wake me up when we have a new coach and I'll try to get excited over the program once again.

Welcome to the game. I once had an article written about me in the Maryland Gazette in which the lady reporter took notes instead of recording my actual voice. So when my quotes came out they were all out of context and not even factual.

I'm not sure I've ever seen players leave in the middle of a season. Saying that, in the famous words of Curly Bill, "Well, bye!" They were awful and did not look like Div I players, that's on recruiting. Second, the fact that it was a "mutual" decision most likely means Turgeon knew they were poor on the court, at practice, and probably in the classroom. I think we can stop the talk of Turgeon's recruiting prowess. This past class looks pretty weak.

I can't believe there are people out there who still try to reply "first" in the comments sections of blogs. Saying that, good to hear Hess is working on things. I still think the Orioles should ficus him in the pen and see what happens, but considering the current options, I could see giving Hess another shot. It does seem weird that our pitchers have to go outside the organization for these programs with all the money we are putting into systems and supposed experts coming into the organization. Why wouldn't every pitcher in the organization have these kinds of personalized plans? If there is offseason work that can help pitchers improve, you would think the Orioles should be investing heavily into these programs.

You really do have a mancrush on Roch, don't you?

Wow, I was like, why in the world was this bumped?

Smith has been a huge disappointment this year, no doubt. Is inability score around the basket hurts this team, as does the fact that the Mitchell brothers have zero offensive game either. with no inside presence, it forces things outside and they have been ice cold must of the year from 3-point.

Kinda like when Turgeon would just tell Mello to take over with 4 minutes left in a close game an then sit there and do nothing. That's part of my issues is the lack of in game coaching that is needed when things aren't going as planned. There are few if any adjustments and players are never held responsible for stupid mistakes by getting pulled. They just keep doing them over and over. Turgeon doesn't have to be Coach Knight, but he's way too soft on his players. It always reminds of the time I lost most of the respect I had for him as a coach. That was when they showed him jumping around like a school girl when the Terps got the 4th or 5th seed one year. This is one of the things i like about Harbaugh, in that he's always about the big goal and while he may quickly celebrate a win or in season title, he always and immediate reminds everyone that's not their goal.

It's good to see even the Turgeon supporters are starting to see the same things we've seen for years. Disorganized offense, undisciplined ball handling, poor shot selection, and a lack of fundamental play all around. These have been staples of Turgeon's teams since he's gotten here and if it's not clear by now, it's never going to be clear. Now, certainly the players have been playing poor, but either they aren't that good "recruiting issue" or they aren't developing "Coaching issue." Both are on Turgeon's shoulders. I didn't watch the game because I was at a viewing for a 3rd cousin, but I knew something was bad when my friend texted me about firing Turgeon. Reading through the game comments here gave me a pretty good idea how the game went. It's frustrating for us all since we all want a fun, good team to root for, but I can't even get excited over this team because it's so awful to watch it play such undisciplined, bad basketball. When it does click, it's usually because someone got hot from the 3-point line or they are playing a lower-level team that can't compete with a major. Coming into this year I was excited, but after catching a few games, I became quickly underwhelmed. Most likely it was because of their consistent poor starts that sucks the life out of the fans, but also because it was starting to become clear that the Mitchell brothers were not impact inside players and Stix had not developed his offensive game inside. With Ayala and Wiggens taking steps back, and the fact Turgeon has basically gone to a 6-player rotation (speaks to the lack of real depth) in these big games, it was becoming plain as day that this team was going to way underachieve. I'll still try to catch games when I got nothing else going on, but I won't be buying tickets nor will I be clearing out my schedule to watch another Turgeon team underachive.

Just surprised he didn't talk about his change up which was his best off speed pitch at times last year.

Awesome, now the Terps will lose 64-14 vs 64-3 against Penn State!

Must have a hell of an arm with all those outfield assists. Looks like a guy with plate discipline issues who can't hit for a high average to offset that. Still, there seems to be some tools to work from. I wouldn't claim him and use a 40-man spot on him, but I would sign him for AAA and see what happens.

These scouting grades are always so ridiculous. If the guy had for major league average to slightly above average pitches he wold be a very effective major league starter right now.

It's how they hedge their bets so they don't look awful if the player turns out to be something they didn't report.

Sorry weams, gotta seriously-disagree with you. Mountcastle's slow release do to a long arm action and a lack of arm strength are major detractors for him playing effectively anywhere but first base on the infield. Can he play there and make the routine play, sure, but so can a lot of guys.

With all the shifting they do a second baseman needs a better arm than old school second baseman. I'm not a fan of wasting time trying to fit a square peg in a round hole with Mountcastle. He needs experience in left field. I just don't like the the throwing release of Mountcastle and could not see him turning DPs effectively. Was it worth giving him a look after moving him off SS, perhaps, but I think he needs to stay in left or at first.

Let's stay on the subject at hand.