Ruzious

I think it's close, but Garcia playing mostly CF this season gives him the advantage. Mountcastle's actually passed Garcia in OPS and OPS+, so I'd give him a small advantage on offense. Mountcastle's really improved defensively, but he started out poorly on defense. I'd rather have Mountcastle, but Garcia overall has had a little better rookie year.

I'd rather bring up guys like Kevin Smith and Dean Kremer for the rest of the season and use them in bullpen roles. Both have high SO rates, and we should be seeing what they can do in the majors. Salvage what's been an awful year for Kremer, and be honest that Smith's future is as a reliever.

I sometimes can't tell the difference between his changeup and a slider. There's so much break down on his changeup that he threw a few of them in the dirt last night. I like that he's no longer needing every fastball to be right on the corners and therefore falling behind in counts. He seems to be more comfortable throwing in the strike zone to get ahead in the count - and is then less stressed because he's pitching ahead. One game at a time - if he finishes the season strong, it makes a huge difference for how he's viewed going forward.

We're not really doing this - "How dare the media treat us poorly" thing, are we? How bout we not be so absurdly bad every year, and then care about how the media treats us?

I see us still being a bottom 4th offense - even with Adley. There are just too many holes in the infield's bats, and even the middle of the lineup isn't particularly good at this point.

The term gradually changed over the years to the more subtle and refined "fat arse".

A double no-hitter through 2 innings. Could we be seeing history in the making? No? Ok.

I wonder if they think Moises has the kind of ability that Mountcastle had at that age - though Mountcastle was certainly farther ahead - playing at Delmarva at 19.

Agreed - and I don't think the O's are willing to do multiple big investments on veteran pitchers. Hopefully they'll do 1, so they can have the possibility of have a big 3 in the pitching staff (joining Means and GRod), and then I figure they can fill out the remainder of the staff with a smart GM, good minor league and major league development, and good luck with health. And it'll help if MLB institutes a high salary cap minimum.

I don't think folks are understanding how long it would take for the O's to develop a starting pitching staff without Means being a part of it. Heck, we still have our 1 top starter prospect in AA. Sometimes even the best starting pitcher prospects take several years in the majors to become solid MLBers. Trading Means could significantly increase the rebuilding process time.

I'm not saying no to Glasnow now, but his durability is also a major questionmark; puts the Glas in Glasnow. His career-high is 111.2 innings - 2018 when he split between starting and relieving. The 3 years since, he's averaged just 69 innings a year. And that doesn't include the zero for next year.

Actually 4 years - because he's got 2 arbitration years left.

If you could get him to do that - maybe add 2 years onto his contract - I'd be much more interested.

If he didn't get hurt, he could have just as easily slumped and lowered his value that way. Either way, he really never put up an impressive enough resume for a 28 year old to get a ton in a trade, and we're better off with him - considering the dismal state of the organization's pitching staff.

Is that a question, a comment, or a sneeze?

That's where I am. Trying to look at the other side, it's like paying in advance for a player who was developing into a real good player. But even then, it's just for 1 healthy season before he becomes a free agent, and even in that healthy season, we won't know how strong he comes back after the TJ surgery. And realistically, we know current ownership won't do this. Looking forward to your thread.

No, I think it was his young son that did the honors... a little Burdi told him.

Good stuff. Yeah, he had some terrific minor league years with the O's - including AAA at age 22. The high SO numbers must have scared people more back then they do now.

Edit - that's 26 in CF - not LF - for Coggins.

And in 1974, all of Bumbry's 65 OF starts were in... LF, Baylor had the other 97 starts in LF and 23 starts in RF, Merv... played for Cincy, Coggins started 71 times in RF and 26 in LF, Blair had the remaining 136 starts in CF. And a fellow by the name of Jim Fuller (who's name doesn't ring a bell to me) started 48 games in RF, while the versatile Enos Cabell started 18 games in RF.

Well, looking it up might be worthwhile. According to Al Bumbry Stats | Baseball-Reference.com, Bumbry played a total of 33 games in his career in RF (29 of them in 1973), while Baylor played 200 career games in RF. Rettenmund didn't have much of an arm either, but RF was his position more than LF, and he did 81 games in RF in 1973. Fwiw, Bumbry had a very weak arm - just like Baylor - and very similar to Mullins of the current O's.

Yes, I was wrong - as was discussed. I've been wrong many times.

And that makes sense because Baylor probably started in RF but had a terrible arm - and Bumbry must have been in LF.

I top 100 guy is most definitely significant value - far more than the O's will ever get for him.

This is sounding like our discussion about Mancini when you also KNEW GM's knew that he's a much better player than he was showing earlier in the season - and they were sure to offer significant value for him.