Jagwar

I thought the ranking should have been lower, maybe like #53. ?

Makes me wonder if MLB could institute something similar to the luxury tax for the teams at the low end of the salary scale. Call it a "Tanking Tax". ?

I've said this a few times... I believe a number of folks had no idea what a sorry state this O's player development system was in when Elias took over. Yes, the rebuild is taking longer than most... but couldn't it be because the necessary demolition was more extensive than expected?

Another fair point. But I just as easily could have typed "The odds of player X having an impactful year on a non-contending team in year 1 just isn't that good.

Fair point. Really hoping that AR is not Wieters 2.0, but isn't that a typical risk with high draft choices?

I get that and I respect your insight. But I would rather see AR playing in an O's uniform in 2027 on a strong O's team than in September 2021 on a last place team.

No I don't. Because the overarching goal should be consistent long term strength and success of the O's franchise. That means holding onto your best players for as long as possible. Bringing AR up at the end of 2021 for a smidgen of games on a horrible team does not align with that goal. I personally would rather wait until next April to bring him up. I want AR in an O's uniform as long as possible, preferably on teams that don't suck.

Just don't bring him up to the bigs this year. No point wasting service time on a team that is going nowhere.

I'll say nobody. I don't want the O's to spend money until they start trending upward in competitiveness.

I agree. I think the tear down task was much more difficult than most were willing to admit.

Who? I know not this Davis you speak of.

We had some studs... but the depth wasn't there. Very little international presence. Who was in the pipeline after the names you mentioned? And after all of the talent Elias has added, why are we still talking about years from being competitive? The hole was deep IMO.

The farm system was much worse than we were willing to admit when Elias took over. When the hole is that much deeper it takes longer to climb out into daylight. I wouldn't be shocked if it took until 2024 or later to make the playoffs.

I know what you mean, but I just don't think that is such a bad thing. He's having a solid season, but it's not like he's consistently putting up numbers that scream "send me to the Show". And I don't care if AR plays any percentage of his service time on an O's team that sucks this bad. I'd rather have him play that % time when the organization has a better product on the ML team and in the minors.

I would think it's service time, but because Elias doesn't want to waste service time on O's team that suck.

Pretty sure it's totally about eating innings after a short 2020 season

I don't understand how this team blowing a lead can possibly come as a surprise.

Getting a Josh Towers vibe from him.

It's interesting. I went to see Bowie play in Hartford in early June, and Neustrom grounded out weakly to 2B a few times. He was OPSing .600 and my reaction was "this guy is just filler". Then he posted 319/404/505/909 in June and 296/424/611/1035 so far in July. Shows you what I know. Good for him on his much deserved promotion.

Use the savings for free Boogs BBQ for the Hangout

Good thing they focused on pitching in the draft. Oh wait...

Well to be fair, I might be low balling the number.

I gave them a D. I just don't understand how anyone could come to the conclusion that the O's system needs a big time injection of pitching. Maybe Elias sees better pitching options in the international talent pool?

Unfortunately Cabrera also had a 96 BB/9 rate to go along with that

The Giant's first 9 selections were pitchers. They chose a pitcher with 14 of 20 picks. THAT'S what would have made me happy.