Absltgreek

He definitely looks thicker/stronger

I've been checking weekly since the spring for the CBA documentation to be released with no success. I'm guessing with the complexity it takes months to finish for publication. (unless I keep just missing it somewhere)

I was half jokingly/half seriously pondering something like this the last few days... Adding something like Judge (8/300 w/ opt out?) and Verlander (2/80 w/ vesting 3rd yr option). Combined with upcoming prospects and trades (Santander for Pitching) and having something like: Catcher: Adley 1B: Mountcastle/Westburg 2B: Westburg/Vavra/Urias SS: Ortiz/Mateo/Henderson 3B: Henderson/Urias LF: Stowers CF: Mullins RF: Judge DH: Urias/Judge/Whoever isn't playing/bench Bench: Urias/Mateo/Hays/Backup C SP: Verlander SP: GROD SP: Kremer SP: Means SP4/5: Bradish/Lyles/Voth BP: Felix and the boys, etc. Not super well thought out, probably not realistic, but boy would that be fun to watch...

My favorite part about his post was the updated Board rankings with draftees: Four (4) of the top 25, Five (5) in the top 50, Six (6) in the top 100, not including Westburg or Kjerstad, who could certainly have arguments for. AND this is with JUST graduating the #1 prospect in Adley. Future is looking pretty good. Edit: Oh and the live farm system rankings have us back to #1 with the current draft haul.

Seems right, right? Highly ranked prospect, would be coveted, but after this draft, O's still have 4-6 potential players ranked higher, so you're not trading from the real meat of the system, and maybe can get a really attractive pitcher in return.

From the BA Hot Sheet Chat: Meads or Gunnar if you had to pick one? Josh Norris: Gunnar. Scouts absolutely loooooove Gunnar Henderson for a combination of skills and polish that could make him truly elite. Depending on who graduates this year, he has a shot to be the No. 1 overall prospect in the game entering 2023.

Clearly Frobby is saying that Stance and swing adjustments aren’t binary, there are certainly many small combinations of changes that can be kept or reverted, or adjusted.

Jon Meoli said as much in his Newsletter yesterday, re: Cowser, without quoting the whole thing (as it's paid and all): "Cowser said he was focused on one zone and striking out as a result..." "I felt like I was trying to do, not do too much, but I was really honing in on one specific pitch and I was taking a lot of pitches on the corners. That’s not something I would normally have done, I usually hit it where it’s pitched. I’m starting to get back to that now.” "Cowser said finding the balance between being himself and being a hitter in the Orioles’ mold is “something that I’m learning to do." "Instead of chasing home runs, Cowser’s goals for the rest of the season are simple. He wants to close the walk-to-strikeout rate back up, and his May is going a long way to that end"

If I recall he took a pitch to the head/face a few weeks ago, swollen eye is probably just the main remaining issue luckily. Could have been much worse.

First and third pitches were balls, bad calls.

As I post that Grayson gets a strike 3 call in his favor on a low/outside pitch. Ump has an interesting zone.

He's a bit wild, but he's also definitely getting squeezed a bit by the ump. Dropped a nice breaking ball that should have been strike 3, called a ball by ump. Similarly Adley got a called strike 3 against him for a pitch that looked inside.

Another: Zach (Baltimore): I know it's early, but Gunnar Henderson's plate discipline improvements are starting to look like a big deal, and I've heard (anecdotally, at least) that his 3B defense has been looking really good as well. Could he jump into the top 30 if he maintains this level of play for a couple more months? Geoff Pontes: You're preaching to the choir, I think he could and the approach has been fine, the bat to ball skills are showing up now. Not a word of hyperbole here, he might have the best hitting data in the minors. There's running ability and defense. I think he could be a star.

And from the Hot Sheet Chat: Brad (NJ): Geoff, Tell me more about Gunnar Henderson? What kind of offensive potential are we looking at? How high do you think he could rank in the 2023 BA Handbook? Geoff Pontes: Depending on graduations and what Baltimore does in the draft he could be 1 or 2 in the Orioles system this winter. The power and plate discipline were always there, now he's making contact at an above-average rate as a 20 year old in Double-A. I think he could be a big mover this summer.

Gunnar is #7 on Todays BA Hot Sheet: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/hot-sheet-baseballs-20-hottest-prospects-from-the-past-week-51022/ 7. Gunnar Henderson, SS, Orioles Team: Double-A Bowie (Eastern) Age: 20 Why He’s Here: .529/.600/.765 (9-for-17), 5 R, 1 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 2 BB, 3 SO, 4-for-4 SB The Scoop: Good things come in three for Henderson, as he opened the week with consecutive three-hit games on Tuesday and Wednesday, then capped off the week with three stolen bases in the first leg of Sunday’s doubleheader with Harrisburg. With numerous rainouts in the Mid-Atlantic, Bowie and Henderson only played five games last week, but that certainly didn’t stop the 20-year-old shortstop from continuing to do damage. He’s hitting .309/.459/.506 as one of the youngest players in the upper minors with rate stats like chase percentage and miss percentage that back the step forward in production. (GP)

It was apparent that tonight's strike zone, constantly shifting, inconsistent, crazy; seemed to at least be equally applied to both teams. For years, whether implied or explicit, it always feels teams like the Red Sox, and the Yankees in particular, have always benefited from a more forgiving strike zone than their opponents. Constantly getting calls in their favor, while their opponents, in the same games, often seem to have their own, alternative strike zone. For one night at least, it was borderline magical, watching the Yankees have the Yankee opponent strike zone used against them. Was it a mix up with the orders from on high? OR more likely, a gift from the baseball gods, for a struggling, yet hopeful franchise and fanbase, to let the Yankees have a taste of their own medicine. When you read a box score and see 2BB-13k for one team, and 10BB-9K for the other team in a Yankees-Orioles series... obviously the O's had the former and the Yankees the latter, but tonight? No. Tonight the powers that be decided on a level (by level I mean an artillery marred landscape of disaster, holes, balls that are strikes, strikes that are balls), and equally applied zone for both teams, and boy, did the Yankees not like that (Aaron Boone's tirade after the final ball 4 call made that obvious). It was a joy watching the complete breakdown of the Yankees hitters and pitchers tonight (to add to that, if the last two innings of Yankees pitching are not best argument for a pitch clock, I don't know what is. Schmidt and Chapman taking what seemed like minutes between pitches was just excruciating). It likely won't last, but for one night at least, it felt nice to have a Yankee's' strike zone, for both teams.

I mean, you might as well just release him now.

Good call, didn’t think about that.

So with the new rules granting draft picks for players on opening day rosters, if the injury delays Adley, would he still potentially be able to get the 2 weeks service time for the extra year of control AND be eligible for the draft pics awards if he was on the DL to start the season for example? Not sure how that works.

Second picture makes it look like they are building in a slight angle away from the 'pen, rather than an obtuse section.

For that offer yes. The most recent agreement I believe was the July deadline to agree to the parameters for an international draft and only then would the qualifying offer be removed.

The one big thing that makes me think we might not go for a deal is the Qualifying Offer loss of a draft pick. Looking at the rules, the O's would lose their Second round pick, which would be #1 in round two (since we lose our third highest pick). I could see that being a deal breaker for the front office.

Whoa.

Union votes Yes! Via Heyman and PAssan

Could be majority of the rank and file voters will massively benefit from the raise in the minimum and the CBT only affects a small number of teams, so for them, the deal is great (vs. the Exec. committee made up of more big contract players). I'm hoping...