Jammer7

Yeah, I agree. They are depth, nothing more. Akin is a decent middle inning guy when healthy. Certainly expendable. I will say that Zimm looked better with less velo. The ball seemed to have more movement with a bit less velo. SSS and all, but he looked the best at had ever seen him. Interesting that he had the core injury at that time.

He was optioned in 2020, 2021 and 2023. Perhaps the 2020 option to the alternate site does not count?

Absolutely. They need to keep adding young pen arms who have upside and options for that purpose. Coulombe was huge last year. Can he be that good again? I am curious what happens to Baker, Akin and Zimmermann. I believe Baker has an option left, the other two do not. (Fangraphs roster resource says they have one remaining, but I think that is incorrect.) All of them could be in, say Colorado, but the end of the year. Heasley is interesting. Ultimately, I think Seth Johnson and Chayce McDermott are pen arms.

The first part is interesting. It is mitigated by the last part, though. Relievers are so volatile, in general. While Neris would have been interesting, certainly, I am more intrigued by what Dillon Tate can do in 2024. He can be as good as Neris, in the same proximity anyway, and we already know him and what it takes to get him going. He should be healthy and rested. Baumann is someone I believe they like a lot in the pen. When he was healthy, Hyde used him in many higher leverage situations, and with good results until he wore down.

To say Ottavino or Nero’s is a better closer than Kimbrel, that’s funny. If, at the end of the season, it turns out that way, fine. Kimbrel has been a far superior closer than either over their careers. If you are talking about overall value for the money, ok, maybe. I can see that argument, not that I agree. And maybe he pursued them, but they chose other teams for whatever reason. To say Elias has screwed the pooch, good lord. They won 101 games in 2023, or did you forget? But the GM who built that team apparently doesn’t know much about his job? There are factors here we do not know everything about. The only obvious things are that Angelos does handcuff us financially and Elias will not just overpay and give away prospects. Good for Elias to hold onto his top guys. I will defend the Gibson signing, now the Frazier salary of $8 million was too rich for me. Frazier did show up big for us with a few clutch hits to win big games, though. To look at Gibson’s 2023 season stats and point to the ERA of 4.70, you have to add in the 190 innings and 17 quality starts. He saved the pen on some other nights and stayed in longer than maybe he should have. And, he provided veteran leadership to a bunch of young guys who had never been successful MLB starters, much less in the playoff hunt. FA’s are signing now for less than they would have earlier. Their market has dwindled some at this point. The market moved slower this year, obviously. There are still some options out there. We’ll see what happens. I get the disappointment of not adding a top starter yet. However, Kimbrel blew less saves last year than Bautista, just for the record. And he’ll have a better defense in Baltimore than he had in Philly. We lost very little. We get Means and Tate back, though we cannot be certain what they’ll give us. We’ll have other injuries as well. Bradish and Rodriguez should improve upon 2023. Kremer should be somewhat similar to 2023. Other GM’s are banking on Elias getting desperate, and making the mistake of overpaying and jeopardizing the long term future of the organization.

My answer was “neither one,” at least not now. Generally, I was always under the impression that you should not trade an everyday star player for a starting pitcher. Especially not a star who is under control for five more years. That said, if we get to arb 2 year with no hope in sight for an extension or re-signing him, then yes. Pitchers break too easily. Strider might be a very durable guy, however, because of his mechanics and strong lower half. I could see an argument for him, but Kirby is kinda slight of build.

I believe Albert Belle had an outstanding throwing arm at one time. I don’t remember if he still had that as an Oriole.

I would rather pick up a TOR starter, but this has me tired of the process. So, I voted to go “as is.” Between Hall, Wells and Irvin, I think we’re covered. I actually really liked what I saw from Zimmermann at the end of the year as well. He was not throwing the ball with as much velo, but had better command and movement than I had ever seen him. It may have been just my imagination, and I would like to see more, but it was interesting to me. Above it all, DL Hall deserves a shot. If we can get him locked-in, his stuff is obviously great. He could be a difference maker in the rotation, or the pen.

It depends on how you look at it. do think it’s a huge drop after Holliday, Basallo and Mayo to Kjerstad and Cowser. Just based on potential. Maybe the actual outcome will be less of a gap, but Basallo has 80 future raw power, per Tony. He and Mayo are generally rated as 70 power guys, and they are both large humans. Kjerstad is rated at 60-65. Basallo and Mayo have 70 arms, and Basallo is seen as a guy who can remain at catcher (premium position) despite his size. Cowser and Kjerstad may have higher floors, but ceiling-wise, the top three are well above them. I’m not as high on Cowser as some. What does a successful Cowser look like at the MLB level? A corner OF with 55 power? Is that the profile we want, as a legitimate first division contender? To me, he also has a lot to prove about his makeup. I think Kjerstad is a little underrated by some. Another year of experience and I think we see less swing and miss, better decisions and we see him get to his 65 power more. He’s a better defender than some say, probably about average, maybe a tick above. Maybe around the same as Santander, another underrated defender. I am very curious what EBJ is going to look like. A true elite CF. Can he hit? I think so, and what better organization for him to learn? 80 speed and defense would look nice in CF as Mullins’ replacement in 25-26.

Tony’s list is certainly the most informed, and the most timely. The MLB list will probably be different when their preseason list comes out. That list was last re-ranked at the All Star break, I think. I’m not sure about the CBS list. BA has Holliday, Basallo, Mayo, Cowser and Kjerstad. That list is fresh as well, and it is well-informed since Jon Meoli writes it. IMHO, Holliday is the only untouchable. Basallo, Mayo and Kjerstad should not go anywhere, unless it’s for a crazy-good deal they cannot pass up.

I agree. I think we also can confirm how much Hays means to this group.

Pretty cool, for sure. Probably the best Orioles games I have seen in person in my life. The O’s fans were electric. We did take over the Trop that weekend series. It reminded me, and the baseball world, that O’s fans are among the very best when the team is worthy.

I just finished watching the video. We were surprised to see a close-up of my wife and I in Tampa. Great video, telling a great story.

Not a good fit for the Orioles, in more ways than one. Personally, I think he’s a fiery competitor, but he is not worth the money or the headaches.

I went with CF. Ced is very good, when healthy. A lot of leg issues for a guy whose game is his legs. If you want Ced to be productive in September and October, you need to get him off his feet more during the season. We need to solidify the position. Perhaps Hilliard was to that end, or he might be getting Hays a break more than Ced. Cowser has a lot to prove, and doesn’t look, to me, like he belongs in CF. McKenna is out of options, and who knows if they plan on doing another move to replace Hicks’ production. I don’t think Hicks would be a guy I would want in 2024.

I agree, though it is likely the agent of a pitcher, rather than the pitcher themselves. It could be the bullpen catcher, the clubbies, or maybe even Darren Holmes. If there is some kind of issue, so be it. No staff is perfect. Rosenthal’s shtick is running on empty since Baltimore is winning.

I thought you were gonna quit watching highlights? The ball can really jump off the bat when he is in rhythm and gets extension through the ball.

Yes, a mystery indeed. In ‘22, they opened his stance, probably in an effort to get his lower involved better and in sync with his upper half. Mateo, at his best, has good posture, stays inside the ball and does not swing at pitches he cannot hit well. His hand path is good, and his hands do not drift. Of course, when he is bad, none of those things are true. Nuance seems to be something that escapes Jorge, at least when he has a bat in his hands. In ‘22, he had a freak injury, In Milwaukee, maybe? He ran into a fielder along the 1B line, IIRC. He had been on a hot streak, and driving the ball well. I think it was a neck injury, my old man brain not really working yet this morning. He immediately went into a slump, but continued to play through the injury after a day or two off. He is quite the conundrum. Ah well.

You are right. At this point, he is what he is. I was just saying that his physical attributes are as good as any middle infielder I have ever seen. Coaches hate to give up on players with that ability. Those are mental things. They are decisions. Muscles do not have a “memory,” despite what people say. It is a learned behavior, over thousands of reps. It can be learned over, new responses to stimuli can be created. It just takes work, a lot of work. I am ready for what is next. Mateo is just a role player, not because of his talent, but likely because of his work ethic and coachability. We have other talented options, and it’s time to move on. Too bad, but that’s reality.

Of course, those are mental things, not physical.

At this point, I cannot argue much. I do think he is “good enough” to play everyday at the MLB level. He is not as good as he appeared at that time. I don’t think he understands the value of some of the good things he was doing. There is not a more talented infielder that I have ever seen. There is nothing he cannot do, physically. I thought he clearly worked very hard in 2022 on his defense. In 2023, I wonder if he worked nearly as hard on it. You do not simply regress that much at his age if the work ethic is equal. I honestly hope I am wrong. I was disappointed to not see much of him in the extra work session for infielders in July in Tampa. He should be the first guy on the field every day.

I believed Mateo’s hot fist month was sustainable. And just like that, it wasn’t. He stopped doing things that made him successful. @Sports Guy hates everyone, who cares if he said Mateo would falter.

No doubt about it. I watched Gunnar and Westburg take pre-game infield for over an hour on a Sunday in July at Tampa. Attention to detail, very hard workers, and showed great intensity throughout. They focused on the little things, and their improvement during the year is certainly thanks to that work ethic. Mansolino is an underrated infield coach.

Great post! It was a different era for sure, and I was being tongue-in-cheek just a bit. The development side of things was so bad then, but much of MLB PD was poor then as well. The Orioles PD side was widely maligned at that time for not doing much with the talent they had. They sometimes did not hit on the field, much less take infield, according to scouts and coaches I know. It was a bad situation. Did DeMacio have autonomy in these picks? I remember you being close to him. It was a poor draft, absolutely. In fairness to DeMacio, they may have had a good draft, within the context of what they had to work with. When the PD side is poor, it almost didn’t matter much. I would love to speak with Roberts and Markakis to learn how they developed, and if it had anything to do with the Orioles coaches.

I understand, and it’s close for me. Catcher is a premium defensive position too, but three years younger is nice. If only we could have a shot to keep either or both here longer term.