linedrive

I got to see him play the last three games and, overall, am disappointed with his fielding. He doesn't seem to have much range and muffed a number of plays I thought should have been outs. The home run was nice though.

Took him a while to get warmed up. He looked real good in the third and fourth inning, keeping guys off balance and throwing strikes. The defense was a little shaky behind him.

If Elias can get some value for Lyles, he'll be traded. But right now I don't see that happening. He needs to string together some good starts. He's probably more valuable to us than he is to any other team. We don't need anymore 'marginal prospects'.

Exactly. I'll remain optimistic and hope they climb to .500.

Neither one is good, but I'd definitely take Garceau of the 2.

I don't think we have a lot lot to sell, at least not at the ML level, so I don't expect we'll be very active. Jordan Lyles has some value, so we might be able to get us something in return, but it would be nice to get some more good outings from him. Some teams might be interested in a reliever for the stretch run if we have one available. But I doubt we'll be able to move any position players. Realistically, I don't see us getting any good prospects in return. But at some point we do need to trade some of our talent, otherwise we'll have some tough decisions to make come the next Rule 5 Draft. I'm guessing those kinds of trades won't happen until the season ends, or maybe into early 2023.

I'm optimistic and think they'll finish at .500, or pretty close to it. But that also depends on whether or not they make any trades. Either way, the future looks bright!

Nice to see him heating up, and hope he can maintain it.

I've always been in favor of a closer by committee approach when there's no clear closer on the roster, so it bugs me when they try to force someone into that role for no good reason. I'm not sure if it's Hyde's decision or not, but I think we'd be more successful with a committee, so I hope you're right.

Well, I'm still upset that we don't have a team in Frederick anymore. But I'm surprised to hear there are no announcers in Aberdeen. Really???

I do like him as a starter, but I remember reading that he likes the relief role, so if he's successful there and comfortable, keep going with that.

I'm keeping my expectations low, but hoping he proves me wrong.

I voted yes, even though I think it's a real possibility the organization could let us down and keep him off the Opening Day roster. I was hoping the new agreement would discourage teams from doing that, but it sounds like that's not the case. I'll be very upset if he earns a roster spot for Opening Day but doesn't make the team for whatever reason they come up with.

This has been long overdue. Glad they're finally doing it.

I know Cody Roberts isn't a prospect and certainly doesn't deserve to be on any prospect list, but he's grown on me, and I've enjoyed following him. Do you think he could get some Major League at bats with the O's next season as a backup? There are no catchers on the O's roster, so I expect we'll sign some this offseason, and we don't know if Rutschman will be on the Opening Day roster, but, even though he's a long shot, he might be one of those guys who gets called up out of necessity. He seems to be dependable and has outlasted the prospects ahead of him. Does he get a shot next year?

Absolutely! The guy Elias wants is probably 8 or 9 on everyone else's list. Seriously, it would depend on what we get in return, but I'd be in favor.

It's gotta be Cowser. We drafted him, he put up the numbers, and he seems healthy, which is a big key for me.

Another home run in Friday's game!

I've been watching him play this entire series and he's looked pretty good at 3B, making all the plays, including a double-play. I haven't seen him make any difficult plays, but he certainly hasn't looked atrocious.

Glad to finally make it out and see him pitch this year. Great outing, and he made it look easy. Of course I was disappointed he didn't pitch more than three innings, but in those three innings he dominated. I think his fastball topped out at 97, and he showed good command, even with his off-speed pitches.

I went to the Baysox game Tuesday and Wednesday hoping to see Stowers play, and was bummed he wasn't in the lineup. But glad the reason he wasn't in the lineup was because he was promoted (not due to any injury).

I just hope he can stay healthy. It's nice seeing him in the rotation all season long, and hopefully he'll get promoted to Norfolk before the end of the season for a start or two.

Okay, I think Baumann should get one more start in Norfolk, and then promote him to the O's if he does well. He looked great in his two starts at Delmarva, but not so great in 10 starts at Bowie. In six starts at Norfolk, though, he's looked pretty good (2.00 ERA). He's 25 years old, and turns 26 on September 10th, so it would be fitting if he made his Major League debut at the age of 25. I was at the game he tossed a no-hitter, and I've always been rooting for him, so now that it's September, I'd really like to see him get a chance before he turns 26. I don't know if he'll succeed at the Major League level, but I think it's time he was given a chance, and open the door for him to compete in Spring Training next year for a spot in the rotation.

I keep saying that we'll surprise a lot of people next year. We have a lot of talent, and it should only get better. I'm not saying we'll go from Worst-to-First, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are rumors of us acquiring players for a playoff run instead of being sellers...

I'm not worried about our SP. Call me an optimist, but I truly believe we're heading in the right direction; there's a bright future for the O's. I expect this team will surprise a lot of people in 2022. Remember the 1988-1989 Orioles nearly went from Worst to First. This team is poised to do it with the talent we have at AA and AAA alone, as well as guys at the ML level who are taking their lumps, but may figure it out by Opening Day. Right now we have some fine prospects in our system, and, as we know, some of them are getting their chance right now. This gives Elias and our coaches a chance to evaluate the talent and see which among them will stay in the rotation, or move to the bullpen, or be moved elsewhere. Of course Grayson Rodriguez is the guy we're all rooting for and banking on the most, but we don't even have to put all our hope in him in order to achieve success- and a World Championship. Consider the pitching staffs we've had when we actually went to the Post Season in 2012, 2014 and 2016. In each of those magical seasons, we had 6-8 starters over the course of the season, and only 1-3 of those starters were home-grown. And in only one of those seasons did one of our high draft picks lead the team in starts (Gausman tied Tillman with 30 starts in 2016). So what is the takeaway? Tillman was one of the few trade pieces that worked out for us, but we have no idea if any one of our more recent trade acquisitions will be of much help. However there are possibilities among Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, Kevin Smith, Kyle Brnovich, Zack Peek and Jean Pinto. As for our own signings, I think we could make four or five post season appearances this decade with guys such as Michael Bauman, Cody Sedlock, Alexander Wells, Cameron Bishop, Gray Fenter, Brenan Hanifee, Zac Lowther, Drew Rom, Carter Baumler, Cameron Bishop, Garrett Stallings, Noah Denoyer, Griffin McLarty, Ofelky Peralta and Ignacio Feliz. Our pitching staffs in the years we went to the post season were not impressive. Agreed? But if Grayson Rodriguez pans out as a TOR guy, and we sign some key free agent pitchers, supplemented by our own draft picks, international talent and other signings, we'll be okay. Who would have thought we could get to the post season with disasters like Ubaldo Jiminez and Wade Miley, or busts like Matusz, Arrieta, Bundy, Gausman and Mike Wright, and injury prone prospects like Zack Britton, and unexpected help from international talent like Wei-Yin Chen and Miguel Gonzalez, but we did. Maybe when we win the World Series in 2024, we'll do it with a rotation of G-Rod, Means, Aaron Nola, Jean Pinto, Cody Sedlock, Joe Musgrove, and 2 or 3 other guys we've never heard of. Again, I think our rotation will be just fine. No need to panic. Be optimistic. If we don't finish over .500 by 2023 and flirt with the playoffs, then we should be concerned. 2012 Wei-Yin Chen, 32 Games Started Tommy Hunter, 20 GS Jason Hammel, 20 GS Jake Arrieta, 18 GS Mike Gonzalez, 15 GS Brian Matusz, 16 GS Chris Tillman, 15 GS Zack Britton, 11 GS 2014 Chris Tillman, 34 Games Started Wei-Yin Chen, 31 GS Bud Norris, 28 GS Miguel Gonzalez, 26 GS Ubaldo Jiminez, 22 GS Kevin Gausman, 20 GS 2016 Chris Tillman, 30 Games Started Kevin Gausman, 30 GS Ubaldo Jimenez, 25 GS Yovani Gallardo, 23 GS Dylan Bundy, 14 GS Tyler Wilson, 13 GS Mike Wright, 12 GS Wade Miley, 11 GS