baltfan

Hard to calculate the increase in confidence it gave the Orioles young starters. Confidence goes a long way and I don’t think it’s a coincidence we had so many young guys perform as starters when they hadn’t in the past.

It would be hard for me to imagine a bigger disaster.

Definitely didn’t. The rumored Reds offer ended up being the best one but AM wanted Bruce.

But if he passed up the Reds supposed offer of Votto and Hamilton, he didn’t do quite as good.

Will be top 3 by the end of the year. mark it down.

Mussina debuted at Memorial Stadium the year before, but he is an interesting contender.

Is Gunnar Henderson the greatest Orioles prospect since they moved to Camden Yards?

I am not saying that Chris Archer is what his stats say he is, but two teams with well-respected development systems, the Twins and Rays, both took a recent crack at him and had limited results.

No chance. Bieber’s FB velocity is down. I would rather take a chance on finding the next Gausman, Rodon, etc.

Can you imagine if they see something in his pitch mix that they think could be improved upon?

I like Correa but he isn't the kind of big bat that I feel like the Orioles need. He is a good bat for a SS, but they need an intimidating middle of the order bat. He doesn't really fit the bill. Not sure there is really anyone out there that does other than Judge and that isn't happening. Abreu intrigues me, but would have to move on from Mountcastle.

Rodon isn't signing for 3 years. Are you willing to pay him for 6?

Scherzer obviously wasn't quite right. They showed it in the warm-ups. Injuries happen, though admittedly more often to 38 year olds.

I haven’t given up on Hall but when you see tons of guys who are starters, like Kirby last night, coming into games pumping 98-99 you wonder if Hall’s stuff is overrated. And yea I know that Kirby is an excellent young pitcher. My point is that Hall was promoted as a guy that would touch 100 in the majors as a starter and he wasn’t really even doing it as a reliever.

The most free and loose I have seen him in majors. Still long way to go command-wise.

judge is hardly hateable. Pitch to him and if he hits it he hits it. Orioles are out of contention realistically anyhow.

Meh, the Orioles drafted Adley based in part on his strike zone judgment. It also has been a major factor in their other draft decisions. There is no evidence Mountcastle ever had good strike zone judgment and there isn't a lot of evidence that it is the type of thing that can be learned starting at age 21 which is how old he was when Elias took over.

Perhaps. It seems like he should be able to move faster.

He is also slower than he looks like he should be which is kind of the opposite of what I normally feel about guys that come up. Mountcastle, Adley, and Gunnar all struck me as faster than I expected, e.g.

Nationals had tons of high picks. Did they really hit on anyone after the first round? I don’t particularly remember. Of course Soto was outside of the draft.

Do you think Hyde is making this decision or do you think this type of decision on a macro level (in other words not on a game by game level) is coming from Elias and Sig?

I miswrote. I agree it was likely a head fake.

Agree he was an average GM. I don't know how much credit he gets for Chen. That was in the pipeline before he came here. As a matter of fact, I remember he was asked about Chen and said he didn't know who he was (I don't think this was a head fake BTW).

Do we have any evidence Buck was picking the players? Yes Angelos was in win-now mode, but it isn't like that was inexcusable. Sure it went on a year or so too long, but I am not sure how that is Buck's fault. Duq also repeatedly made some poor personnel decisions, one of which was not Miller for Rodriguez.