linedrive

One of the things I really liked about his at-bats was his ability to foul off borderline pitches, raise kluber's pitch count, and wait for a better pitch to hit, or draw the walk. Kind of reminds me of Derek Jeter.

Ugh, the D looked terrible. But I do expect it to improve. Santander's play was disappointing, but hopefully he won't be in LF very often. Mountcastle is my main concern going forward. I thought he looked bad last year, and it appears like he didn't work at 1B much in the offseason. I figured that was one of the reasons why they brought in all those first basemen during spring training, and I was a bit surprised they didn't settle on one of them.

I'll give them a solid B- They made the club better, and their depth is a strength. They didn't do anything flashy, but made some good, solid, veteran acquisitions to help the club in the short term. My only concern right now is the health of James McCann and Mychal Givens. Hope they can get healthy and contribute soon.

I'm good with this. Wells earned the spot. Rodriguez didn't. I was rooting for Rodriguez, but he worked his way off the team. Hopefully he does well for Norfolk and gets called up when there's an opening and makes a run for ROY!

I've been lamenting the loss of FanFest myself and was hoping they'd bring it back last season. I haven't really heard anyone else bring it up. Hopefully, if 2023 is successful, and the fans come out, maybe they'll bring it back. But I'm glad we're talking about it, and if we keep doing so, then maybe it'll gain traction.

I think the O's could alleviate some of the negativity by offering Correa a 15-year, $400 million contract, and then retract it after the physical and say, "Hey, we tried". Then nay-sayers couldn't claim the O's weren't willing to throw ludicrous money around like the big market clubs...

Doesn't make any sense if he's such a bad teammate or bad clubhouse guy.

The one guy I would like to have seen make the top 75 is our 7 foot tall, 2022 13th round pick, Jared Beck. I know he has a long way to go to be a prospect, but it's intriguing to watch someone that tall on a pitchers mound, and I'm looking forward to seeing him pitch in 2023. Hope he stays healthy and improves across the board.

Fine. Then let's be patient and see where the payroll ends up. To me, "lift off" means we're going to be serious about winning a Championship and acquire the talent that will accomplish that, without mortgaging our future. I think we'll end up closer to 20th than 26th, and I expect we'll be serious playoff contenders.

I agree with your strong disagreement. I understood what Elias meant and never assumed we'd be throwing ludicrous money at the top free agents. I'm quite fine with the team being prudent with their spending and gather the players that will compete for the Championship and deliver. Their plan is working.

I'm sure there's a good reason for this, but Lyles had the better season between he and Gibson. I would rather bring Lyles back between the two. Maybe they expect Gibson to hold up better over next season. I'll definitely be comparing how their season goes.

I absolutely agree. I wasn't complaining about Wagner's position at all. I just wasn't as well-informed about Wagner when I took the poll. I'm also not saying I was right about Hernaiz. Just that I was surprised. Nothing wrong with being surprised where certain prospects end up.

I'm not disputing any of that. What I was trying to say is that I was pleasantly surprised by Wagner at #15. Not that he was undeserving. I think you made a fine case for Wagner's position based on information I was unaware of. I was simply explaining why I thought Hernaiz was going to be the #15 prospect, and it was based on limited information. That's all.

Correct. That was part of my point. Someone like Hernaiz played in 105 games and accomplished much, much more.

Not sure why you're confused. Just my opinion. In the poll, I voted for Seth Johnson at #15 and Darell Hernaiz at #16. I like Johnson better at #15 because of all the buzz about him and the write-up in his profile. Wagner only had 70 at bats last season. Based on those 70 at bats, I didn't think he wasn't impressive enough to warrant a #15 ranking to me. Only one home run. Batting average was unimpressive. Hernaiz, on the other hand, had over 400 at bats and looked impressive over three levels: 5 triples, 12 home runs, 32 stolen bases. I'd call that a pretty impressive season over someone with 70 uninspiring at bats. Personally, I think it's too early to compare Wagner to a Norby with more defense. He'll have to put up some numbers first. Just my opinion. But, like I was trying to say, I appreciated Wagner's write-up and was pleasantly surprised by it. Maybe by this time next year he'll jump up even further, and I'll be tickled pink.

As much as I like Wagner as a prospect, I didn't think he showed enough in the minors to warrant this spot. But still nice to hear this perspective.

I'm a big fan of Tyler Wells and predicted he would lead the O's in wins in 2022. And although that didn't happen, I still think he's one of their best starters and should remain in the rotation.

While at Birdland Member's Day I asked Ortiz what his offseason goals were, and one thing he mentioned was improving his speed. He only stole 8 bases last year (2 CS), so he's no speedster, but we could see some improvement in that area, as well as increased range at SS. Very promising future for this kid.

I'm just thankful Adley was being mentioned for ROY, let alone serious consideration. It wasn't too long ago that he wasn't even in the running. He started slow and hadn't played in many games, but the more games he played, the more attention he gained, and now his accomplishments speak for him. Well done Adley!

I made it out and it was an amazing day! Loved listening to all the interviews, enjoyed some great food, toured the ballpark, sat in the grounds crew seats, took some pics on the field, got a pic with the WS trophy, and, best of all, took batting practice against Al Bumbry!!! Hit a bunch of line drives and a few fly balls. Such a blast!

Good to see Cesar Prieto with a hit today. Reed Trimble is batting 1.000 (1-1) with two runs scored. And another hit for Kjerstad!

This running on contact thing has been bugging me for most of the season. The first time I noticed it I liked it because they were being aggressive, even though they made an out at the plate. I figured if they didn't try, then they probably wouldn't score anyway. But the more I see it the less I like it. They're not fooling anyone. Their opponents seem to be ready for the play at the plate, and I don't recall seeing the O's pull this off successfully. So I'd rather the runner on third stay put and hope the next batter gets a two-out hit.

I was just looking at Mayo's career minor league stats and see that in 527 at bats he's now driven in 100 runs. Pretty impressive. And to top that, he's scored 112 runs!

Nah, I thought Britton should have won the Cy Young in 2016 when he went 47-47 in saves with a .054 ERA. Not sure if any reliever was as perfect as he was that season.

You're right, he has been solid this season. I've been following him and like what he's done. He's certainly taken advantage of having some really good hitting teammates on his side. Just hope he adjusts well to AA when he gets the chance.