Tony-OH

It was a good idea to try and get a long man as a lefty, but Cortes just wasn't the answer. Maybe it's the way the orioles used him, but I didn't see an out pitch and his command was just awful. I don't think much of Yelfi Ramirez but he's only here until Cobb is activated or until he's used up. Unless the Orioles make a move from outside the organization, this probably means Wright will go to the pen when Cobb is activated.

I'm not going to lie, I keep waiting for these guys to pop up:

Thank you for the support!

Talent wise I would say yes, but innings wise says its going to be hard to find a way to have him starting in Baltimore this year without shutting him down very early. As it stands, this team is not going to be good enough to compete for a playoff spot without catching lightening in an eye dropper bottle. I don't see them asking too much of a kid who just needs to put together a full season of starting while staying healthy. Hunter has tremendous talent, but we don't know a lot of things about him yet. Is he better than Tillman, Wright, Castro, and Cortes right now, potentially yes, but he has 144 innings of pro ball under his belt in five years. He needs to pitch every five days and get up to 100-120 innings this year probably in AA. Next year when this team is probably rebuilding, then we can talk about him in the rotation.

I don't think DD or Buck are insane. They are both outstanding baseball men. They may have their faults, but they are working in an organization where the chain of command is as complex as neurosurgery and they still find ways to keep the team competitive (even last season they were competitive until mid September). Even with one year left on their contracts, they are not going to potentially ruin a kid's future by asking too much of him too soon.

You have as much chance of making the Orioles squad as Harvey. I feel like with over 9,000 posts around here you would have a general idea of how player are developed, especially pitchers. The Orioles are not going to put Harvey in the rotation at the start of this season, it's just not going to happen. Buck is keeping him around because as long as he can get his work in and get himself ready to be a starter in the minors, he might as well gain the experience against better hitters than over in minor league camp. Nothing wrong with keeping him around the major league pitchers and coaches as long as possible as long as he's getting the innings he needs to prepare for the season which the Orioles have found a way to do.

Oh, I don't know, maybe because he's pitched 31.1 professional innings in he last two years combined and has never pitched above Delmarva? Or maybe it's because we don't know how he'll hold up after 75 pitches since he hasn't done it in a start since 2014? Or maybe it's because we don't know whether he can command his changeup? Or maybe it's because the Orioles are not insane? You can take your pick.

Look at their walk rates compared to Mountcastle in the minors.

And as a good leader does, he leaves things on a positive note. It's classic counseling. Start with the good, give them the things they need to improve on, judge their reaction, react to those reactions, then try and leave things on a positive note.

I have a little military experience myself Saying that, I think they are different. Even in the military, I certainly got treated differently as a private and young Sergeant than as a CW4. However, the military is not a spectator sport where I had to talk to the media everyday about my soldiers. If I did, you can be assured smart-ass private snuffy probably is not going to get the same treatment as First Sergeant Tough-ass. Buck didn't ream him out in front of everyone, but he did explain the situation on how Mountcastle reacted (which was immature by the account given). Buck is not a cookie cutter manager. He manages and deals with each player individually. In this situation he felt it necessary to say how the young man reacted. Perhaps in this case he felt the young man needed to have this in the public so he can learn from it. I can gaurentee if next spring, Mountcastle has a different attitude it will be noted, whether Buck is here or not. Everyone loves the story where the guy matures and comes back and does well. It will be up to Mountcastle to give everyone the happy ending to this story.

Buck doesn't do or say anything to the press by mistake.

Holy snikees batman. Maybe Buck should give them all participation trophies. Ridiculous.

Interesting take. Very unexpected.

That's why it will be interesting to see how he goes about his business this year. Will the public admonishment and knowledge of his bad response become the foot in the butt he needs, or will he get bitter and dig in and go down the old "I'll do it my way and show them" road? We shall see.

You keep saying this, but you literally have no idea if it's true or not because it doesn't come out in the press. If you think Buck never says anything to his veteran players behind close doors you are wrong. That I know for a fact. As for plate discipline with veteran players, they usually are who they are after a few seasons in the majors. It's not like you are going to have a talk with Adam Jones and he's going to come out and walk 90 times next year. The Orioles have a lot of the same kinds of hitters on the team. It's certainly not because Buck has or hasn't had talks with them about their plate discipline.

It's too early to say this kid has attitude problems. More accurately, he needs to mature some. There are things he needs to work on which is what the minor leagues are all about. Now would I move him in teh right deal for the right pitcher, sure, but then again, you can say that about just about every player on the team and in the system. His bat has more potential impact then anyone in the system and on the team right now outside of Schoop and Machado. Let's not start packing his bags. Young men don't always react how we would like them to. They are learning and hopefully he learns by his mistakes. Did he probably make a good impression, nope. Can he fix that? Absolutely.

I'm not sure any of us knows what Buck says to his vets behind close doors. Buck doesn't make his talks with vets very public because he respects their professionalism. He also rarely makes these talks public unless he feels he needs to make a point. Notice he said he told Hays the same thing, but didn't go public with it until the Mountcastle talk. I can guarantee that Hays' reaction to Bucks advice was 180 degrees different than Mountcastle's.

No, that's not true at all. What is being taught is to be aggressive on YOUR pitch. That's really the key. Being aggressive on a 2-0 fastball in the middle of the plate is a good thing. Swinging at a 2-0 curveball in the dirt is a bad thing. They want the players to have a plan at the plate and understand what the pitchers are trying to do to them. I was told Mountcastle got himself out way too much in AA by swinging at bad pitches, even in hitter's counts. AS he goes up in levels, you can't expect a down the middle 3-0 fastball in certain situations (like say with a tie runner on 2nd, late in a game and a base open). There was the story where this happened. With two outs and that tie runner on, Mountcastle swang at ball four and popped up for out number three leaving the older better hitter on deck with no opportunity. That player was livid at Mountcastle so the coaching staff brought them together. That's when Mountcastle was like, "If I had hit a double no one would be talking to me." That's where his lack of maturity and understand of the game came into question. That's where being over aggressive hurts him. Clearly the pitcher did not want Mountcastle to hurt him so he was basically pitching around him, but instead of taking the walk he swang at a bad pitch and got himself out. I don't think this is anything that maturity and getting the right advice from the right people won't cure. Mountcastle has all the tools, and he isn't the first or last 21-year old who needed to mature.

These are the things some people don't give Buck enough credit for. This is EXACTLY what he needed to hear and from the EXACT person. The fact that he laughed didn't surprise me based on some of the stories I've heard about him in the minors. He's been put on notice by the minor league staff for being too aggressive and popping up or getting himself out on bad pitches in hitter's counts and his response would be, "If I had hit a double you wouldn't be talking to me right now." He has all the tools to be an impact hitter, and no one is telling him to not hit good pitches regardless of the counts, but he needs to learn more about hitting and having more of a plan during an AB. He's 21-years old and of course his maturity will continue to grow, but I'm very happy that not only did Buck tell him this but he made it public. I'm sure his reaction was why Buck made it public. Great job by Buck and hopefully he'll take that advice to heart as he returns back to Bowie.

Haha. Maybe they'll put me on the radio one day too.

The only even vague reason to bring Harvey up this year is if for some reason this team is in contention, he's pitching well and has innings to give, and the Orioles could use him in the pen. Other that, he needs to spend all of 2018 starting every five days in a minor league rotation as he builds up innings.

Not unless an injury occurred to an eligible player.

No doubt. Rickard is a 5th outfielder at best who's inability to hit breaking balls has caught up to him. He's just not a very good player overall. Hays is so much better right now that it's not even close, which is probably why the Orioles asked themselves, why are we starting an inferior player when we are trying for a playoff spot and every game counts? With the addition of Hays and Santander to the 40-man roster this season along with the emergence of Mullins (event though he's struggled over the 2nd half at Bowie), he's a good candidate to be DFA'd this offseason if the team needs to clear a spot.

Even though Cedric told me he was 100%, I don't think his hamstrings are. His lack of stolen base attempts tells me all I need to know. I've seen him fly down the bases and beat out a routine one hopper to short this year so I know the raw speed is there.

My guess is Laws looked at his stolen base numbers and came up with that. He's not a below average runner.