Ruzious

The Acuna deal was highway robbery by the Braves. He was already ROY and 12th in MVP voting. Tatis got a far far better deal. Gotta factor in that Adley's older than both and hasn't done anything, and there's a much higher injury risk with catchers - as you said. I'd wait a year to consider locking him up.

Sorry, my answer before was a bad one. I just think teams tend to err on the side of over optimism that a player will develop - thinking there's no harm in doing it and maybe they get blind lucky. If Duq really believed he could up his value by keeping him at SS, I think that was silly at best on his part.

It really doesn't bet that question.

Just want the kid to concentrate on getting 100% healthy. Baseball doesn't matter even a little bit at this point.

Thanks for clearing that up on Ruiz. While he did make some glaring errors, I thought he played a solid defensive 3rd base. It's absurd that anyone still believes the O's didn't give Mountcastle every opportunity to play 3rd base. He could be Bill Murray in Groundhog Day practicing 3rd base 10 hours a day year after year and still not become proficient at it. He'd have a better chance at coming up with some nice ice sculptures.

He's young enough that he can improve.

Exactly. And if gets some PT in CF and does well there, his trade value could increase - not that he'll convince anyone he should start in CF, but having that versatility to play there when needed can help.

At our stage, it makes very little sense to try out a 27 year old prospect. We have better prospects who are younger.

Yeah, his job is to get reactions, and he's definitely doing that. Still, him calling others delusional for putting the O's in the top 10 is over the top and unprofessional, imo. The O's will prove him wrong, and we might take that opportunity to rub it in his face.

Don't be fooled by his AAA stats - they were in the PCL. At 27, I don't see much point for a rebuilding team like the O's going for him - though he might or might not have a good few years in the majors.

Duvall's basically a platoon LFer - and is ordinary at best in LF - though he did make a great homerun saving catch last season. Kindofan odd contract - he's just getting 2 mil this season, but he has 3 mil guaranteed next season on a 7 mil mutual option - so 5 mil is guaranteed. 2 straight good years after a terrible one. Braves non-tendered him, and he's 32.

This is the guy we want to be the team leader.

I still like my old idea of limiting at bats to 10 pitches. I realize it's a great strategy to harm opposing pitcher's arms by making them throw tons of pitches, but I could get over not seeing that. If you poopoo the idea because not may at-bats go 10 pitches anyway, I'm willing to change it to 9 pitches.

Like who?

Apologies if it's already been mentioned, but MLB.com seems to really like Jones - ranking him 19th in the O's system and emphasizing his high OBP, low BAPIP (bad luck), strong finish in 2019 (.881 OPS in August), and quality performance in the AFL (.302/.377/.509). "still has the tools to be a solid MLB regular."

Thanks for posting that - very thoughtful of you.

For Braves fans it came in 3 - Niekro, Sutton (their lead tv broadcaster for many years), and of course national treasure Hank Aaron... I share his middle and last names, and he was my first baseball hero and the reason to this day that I'm a Braves fan.

Means, Kremer, and 3 days of rain.

So, this will be his 10th last chance, and he gets 1 million for the effort... that's a nice gig.

Burrr, it's getting cold in here. Chief Ironside? ?

Ok, you and wildcard are comic geniuses without even trying. This is some Abbott and Costello quality stuff.

Oh man - just saw it - I really enjoyed his professional stylings - remember watching him and Phil Wood together and thinking - damn, i could listen to these guys talk baseball and whatever other topics they chose for forever. I didn't get the chance to watch him a lot, but every time - I came away thinking this guy's a treasure.

As a fan, I think the best part of the trade is that it indicates the O's will likely play more of their talented young pitchers in Baltimore. I'm not really excited about Jones - figuring he'll be somewhere between 20 and 25 on their prospect list - but he's certainly better than what I predicted.

Guessing the return is along the lines of a partially chewed cheeseburger from McDonalds.

Nobody expects either of them to, so...