Jammer7

After Hyde’s recent comments about Zimm, I think he starts in the pen. Hyde compared him to Means. Looks like the last spot is between Lopez and LeBlanc, unless Felix makes a miraculous recovery. I believe Zimm will make a good amount of starts, just not in the initial rotation.

All of the starter candidates have thrown on back fields and in B games as well. I am beginning to think that Means, Kremer, Harvey and Akin have spots locked down. Seems like the fifth spot will come down to Lopez and LeBlanc on the OD roster. That is unless Felix can somehow recover quickly enough, but I think it seems clear that Felix will go to Bowie to start the year if he is healthy enough to continue this year.

I believe he is a lock to be in the rotation at this point. When you strike out DJ Lemahieu looking, you have good stuff. Hyde said he didn’t have a good breaking ball tonight, but the change up was excellent and got some swing and miss and otherwise ugly swings. If he can sharpen the breaking ball, he becomes a legit 4 pitch mix. In his interview, he spoke about the necessity of actually pitching since he cannot just overpower batters these days. He was 92-95 today. I wonder how much he used the 2 seam vs. the 4 seam.

The bolded is undisputable and it is the reason I did not like it either. I guess I am just more trying to make sense of it. Smart people do make mistakes. It seems like Pop at 96-98 with that sink is ridiculous if he can sustain it. Logic says that there is a reason we just do not know yet. Didn't he used to be 94-96 with sink? And now he appears to be a tick up to 98. Maybe that is a new development.

Mike and Sig are not stupid, so I will give the benefit of the doubt for now. I said at the time, and I stand by it, like most here, that I would have kept Pop if he is healthy. Maybe it was a mistake, sure. Or maybe Pop comes back to earth in the next few weeks and months. Or maybe their analysis of his mechanics, pronation of the 2 seam and such, says it is a huge red flag for further/imminent injury. Maybe when the league has a book on him they lay off the sinker. Or move up in the box and get it out front before it breaks as much. The slider looks average-ish to me. Are his pitches tunnelled, or different slots? IDK, but I am sure this was a video and data-based decision. I think last night was the first time he pitched toward the middle innings against some starters. A sinker with a 2400 rpm? Seems like a high spin rate for a 2 seam, wow. I thought those are generally around 2,000 or so.

Fabian hit a 415 foot shot to right-center last night. And RHP Tommy Mace looked pretty solid as well. Regarding Fabian, remember he graduated in December and immediately enrolled at UF to play. So, he was a freshman when he should have still been playing in high school. I am not saying he is definitely a top 5 pick, but he should be solidly in the conversation. A long way to go.

LeBlanc, for me, is a fall back option. If he is in the pen for length, ok. My concern is I would like to have more optionable pieces there. I guess we use him for a month, and then DFA him when we need a fresh arm. If we have more injuries and he needs to start, fine. But we are likely to see an ERA over 6 in 4-6 weeks, and a WHIP of 1.5. He is what he is. If we have a shot to keep Tyler Wells, I'd rather do that if it comes down to the two of them. But I still think the chances of keeping an R5 are very slim, at least for the entire year. Perhaps keeping more length guys will afford an opportunity to keep Wells. We'll see.

I guess the Giants were waiting for....never mind. Seems to be a bit of a late bloomer, but we can't keep them all. I agree with Tony that he should never again be on the Orioles' active roster, at least I hope not. And I think the less we know about his injury, the better. The only way it blows up on the Orioles is if Davis comes out and proclaims he is ready to play and somehow implicates the Orioles in some wrongdoing. Maybe Scott Boras has somehow convinced him that being injured is a good thing for all at this point. With that said, I am not advocating for insurance fraud here, but if he's the slightest bit banged up, so be it.

Interesting list, and the player comments are solid. Ranking Maikol Hernandez at #22 and Sam Basallo at #28 were refreshing. Coby Mayo at #18 caught my eye with as much swing and miss as there is, but huge arm and power tools. Luis Ortiz LHP, along with Sedlock, fell off the list. Honestly, any list without Bruce Zimmermann is not complete. For me, he should be somewhere in the 12-15 range. The write-ups referenced the Fall Instructs on several occasions, even quoted an Orioles' employee as saying Vavra was a "moneyball-style 2B."

No need to game Zimm's service time really. He turned 26 last month. His time is now. We disagree on LeBlanc, and I have not seen anyone, as far as journalists or experts, projecting him to stick once they signed Harvey. However, that could change, depending on Felix' elbow. Elias may claim a guy who gets cut, or sign a FA who opts out. LeBlanc, for me, is a fall back, but I know you like what he has done so far in 2021.

He seems like a lock to be on the team, and really should be in the rotation. Jorge Lopez has really pitched well for the most part. We'll see what Felix' elbow does, but both of those guys have to be in consideration for a starter role.

Yeah, I am intrigued by both. I agree that Nevin is the priority. Shaw looks to be in better shape (leaner) than he did with SF. Nevin looks to be a little more muscular than last year as well. I think the staff will continue to impress on both of them that developing their athleticism/strength is huge for them to play in MLB. I would like to see Nevin play 3B, but in limited looks for me his arm looks like it might be short for that in an everyday role. They both have a ways to go for various reasons. Shaw needs a ton of work to shorten that swing and improve his pitch recognition. Nevin gave an interview a week or two ago and mentioned that Elias told him he needed to play multiple positions 1B/3B/COF and they would be moving him around a lot.

Good stuff! The rotation might not be too bad, actually. Akin’s command and off speed need to come around some. Interesting development of Conner Greene. I wonder if Fernando Abad isn’t going North with the team, though. I’m not a big fan of Lakins, and have no problem DFAing him. I do think Hyde likes him though. Does he like Wells better? I do. In the pen you list, Greene has an option, Sulser, Tate and Fry have options as well. I would like a little more flexibility, ideally, but that should do, especially with a 9-man pen.

That’s easy to say. I am sure his dad has given him every advantage of having a major league dad, and I doubt he has any issues with pressure. But high end kids like that have not failed much. So you just don’t know until they struggle for a few months. “You don’t know until you know.” (probably Yogi Berra)

I agree with some of that, but the confidence of a high end kid can be shattered with prolonged utter failure. Like I said, I have not watched him and have no idea of his preparedness for this kind of jump. Perhaps he is just plain ready. But has ever really failed? And what happens when he does? IDK. It will be interesting to watch. I hope he does well, but I am skeptical.

Sure, but they generally don’t skip A/AA/AAA altogether and succeed. Griffey, Arod, Tatis, Machado, Trout, etc...all played some minor league ball for 1-2 years. I have no knowledge of where Witt is in his preparedness, but wow.

Exactly my thoughts. We’ll see, I guess. He may be the once in a generation type, or they may set him back. He’s a heck of a talent though, for sure.

Yep, and that is such an aggressive risk to me. Why rush a guy like that? Is Jake Fox his hitting coach? Good luck kid.

I agree with what Mike is doing, though like you, I am among many who questioned leaving Pop unprotected. As far as development, I agree with him, and everything you wrote. I do think that he is doing what is right for the players and the organization. I do think it is conservative compared to many others, including the previous regime here. But he is in a rebuild, so in fairness, he has the luxury of being patient. When we begin competing for playoff births and the payroll rises, will he still have the same approach? IDK.

This place will go nuts! Absolutely.

Interesting, how is that false? Making your prospects spend nearly a full season in each level is a conservative approach in modern times. He calls that conservative, himself, but I suppose you can call it something else. I won’t quibble about semantics. I’ll be over here shrugging my shoulders, sipping my bourbon. Meanwhile, John Smoltz was speaking on MLB network a few days ago about Bobby Witt Jr. and stated he would tear up the minors and would be the 2021 AL Rookie of the Year. Now that is aggressive promotion.

Not knowing how they valued his work in Bowie last year, just my guess. Elias has shown to be conservative with his talent. If DL starts in AA, would that be too conservative though? I mean he has no time there yet. I will be disappointed if DL is not in Norfolk by mid July or so.

Generally, I think he will be conservative with the higher end high school guys like Henderson, Grayson Rodriguez, DL Hall, Adam Hall or guys with higher ceilings. I think he’ll be apt to move up college guys like Cadyn Grenier, AJ Graffanino, Terrin Vavra, and some of the college arms from the 2019 draft. Take a little more time for the higher ceiling guys that could really benefit from the more gradual initial progression. Some of the moderate ceiling/moderate floor guys will be pushed up some. I like the idea of Fenter in the Bowie pen. It should be interesting.

I don’t completely disregard the traditional Spring stats, but almost. Ruiz had two doubles yesterday, one was an easy fly ball that should have been caught but got lost in the sun. The other was well struck and bounced off the track in the gap and into the stands. Some of the better pitching lines were against guys who will be in the minors soon. I will say it is troubling if the pitchers are always behind in the count, walk a lot of guys, or get wild in the middle of the zone. Particularly if these pitchers are doing this from here until the end of Spring. Also troubling is if hitters are chasing pitches out of the zone regularly. This is the time when they need to clean things up. This is when the regulars start playing longer and have more normal at bats. This is when the pitchers have had time to get loose and work on some things, and now it’s time to get more dialed in. Some guys look bad in Spring, but they flip a switch in the regular season and all is good. I am just glad to have baseball back.

Jake sure did have a phenomenal Spring. I do remember Buck not being impressed with Jake.