Moose Milligan

Ooooof. Not to sound snobby but I shudder to think what an Orioles Facebook group is like. Anyway, glad you’re back.

No, but also if you read between the lines no one else has really stepped up to make a whopping case for that #2 spot. He's more or less there because of the walk rate and there hasn't really been a great challenger.

I read their article earlier. Basically, Gunnar's still ranked that high because of the walk rate, which is exceptional. And they think he'll come around. G-Rod was highlighted because of his last two scoreless starts.

Yeah, looking at their slash lines, it's a bit absurd. But Franco looks legit, back to his rookie of the year levels and it looks like he's on his way to becoming the player people expected him to be. I don't remember Harold Ramirez from last year's squad but he's shown a huge surge in power. He hit an even .300 last year with a .343 OBP and he's at .329 and .395 this year but he's up to .616 SLG from .404 last year. So he was a good hitter to begin with but the power boost is, um, interesting. Yandy Diaz is another who was a pretty good hitter last year, (.296/.401/.423) but is posting better number across the board with a significant jump in power (.319/.420/.585). Arozarena's slash numbers are up across the board, but his slugging is up like .130 points from last year. They're all going nuts and I'm not comfortable with it. But if there had to be an opponent in the division that was going ape****, I'd rather it be the Rays than anyone else. I'd be miserable if this were the Sox or Yankees having this amount of success.

Yeah, I'm too lazy to look up who was healthy and wasn't last year. But on baseball reference there are only two regulars in their lineup that are over 30 (Bethancourt and Yandy Diaz). Most of their regulars are between 25 and 28, so right in that sweet spot of where career years can happen. It's not scientific, but maybe all these guys are having career years are the same time.

This is awesome to see. I don't think they were that great last year but they had a monster season from Judge to help carry them through the hard times. He's hurt now, although it looks like a relatively minor injury. Still, he's dinged up early on. Here's hoping they get so far behind early on that recovering later this summer isn't a possibility for them. The other good news here is that their farm system is barren (according to that article) so it's not like they can trade prospects for veterans and get a boost. Also bodes well for the long term that they won't have anyone of significance to call up. Still, it's the Yankees and they can get right when everyone gets healthy, but their guys always seem to be brittle and I'm not sad about it. It's a great time when the Red Sox and Yankees are battling it out to stay out of last place.

How many of those guys were healthy last year? Franco wasn't, he's a big key to their success. They're absolutely steamrolling teams. IIRC, I don't think anyone's within 50-60 runs of their run differential.

I thought NIL deals would buffer against college sports getting corrupted. IIRC, someone in the NCAA women's tournament said she's making more off her NIL deals than she would in the WNBA, there's no need for her to go pro. But I can't imagine college baseball players, unless you're the absolute best of the best, are pulling in NIL deals the way basketball players and football players are. So, maybe some of them are up for sale. I'm assuming that's what that's what's happened here, point shaving/run shaving of some kind.

https://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/36685120/ohio-halts-betting-alabama-baseball-suspicious-activity

In case anyone's confused@Bemorewinsreally likes Dylan Cease.

I do believe Greinke is at the end of his line. He's transitioned to being a soft tosser and it looks like he's getting hammered this year. Maybe he figures it out cause he's a smart dude and a competitor but from what I've seen this year, I think he's cooked. Lyles is off to a terrible start, too, with a worse ERA than Grienke (6.11 to 6.10). Both have bad FIPs (5.49 for Grienke, 6.19 for Lyles) so it's not as if these guys are getting unlucky with their defense. They've both been that bad to start the season. If the Orioles stay within themselves and keep their approaches the way they have, I like their chances against these two.

I'd be disappointed but it's better than being under .500 for May.

1.000 or higher because 1.100 or higher wasn’t an option.

Basallo.

I think Stieb is picking up HOF steam with the veterans committees.

I was actually looking at this last week. His 1991 season was worth 11.5 bWAR, his '83 season was 8.2. He was actually better in '84 and finished 27th in MVP voting with a 10.0 bWAR season. While the '84 team wasn't that good, it's hard to believe that WILLIE HERNANDEZ AND HIS 4.8 bWAR was significantly better. I get that the Tigers were legit that year but if WAR was a stat then, Ripken probably wins back to back MVPs. He was #1 in WAR by a good margin that year, Dave Stieb was second with 7.9 and Lloyd Moseby was third with 7.3 and Eddie had 7.1. So if Mateo somehow hits that 9.8 number, he'll be in some lofty company, especially if the team keeps winning. He'd be looking at an MVP type season, only thing that holds him back, IMO, is name recognition.

It's important that we kick the **** out of KC because after that we have the Braves, Rays and then the Pirates. After a 4 game set against the Angels, we've got the Jays again and then the Yankees, Rangers and the Guardians. It's not about to get easier. The Rays schedule is going to get tough for them, too. They have the Pirates this week, then the Yankees, us, the Yankees again, the Mets, the Brewers, the Jays, the Dodgers, the Cubs (not completely awful this year) and then the Red Sox. I think the May schedule is going to tell us a lot about these two teams.

Glad to see the Orioles getting calls in our favor. I've been on this site for a long time, I've seen a lot of kvetching over the years about calls not going our way as if we were some team that was loathed nationally and there was a conspiracy against us. So,something the other way is nice to see.

I like it. Performance from year to year matters.

I remember thinking we had no chance in a series against Verlander, Scherzer and Price. But hey, that's why you play the games.

His start is one of the disappointing parts of the season so far. Love the batting eye and the walks but when he's swinging, it's not good. I'd even settle for some Ryan Mountcastle bad luck from him.

I hate the make believe trade talk unless there's actually rumors of us engaged with a team to possibly make a trade. Then it becomes a lot more interesting. I'll only say this: If we were trade prospects for a guy like Cease or Burnes or whomever in an effort to get us a great #2 (Cease) or a #1 (Burnes), I'd like to see JA open the wallet to keep them. I'm really not interested in giving up prospect capital for a one or two year rental and then we gotta go out and try to find a replacement of the guy we just sent prospects for. I'd love to get a guy like Burnes, that would immediately make us a legit team amongst the Rays, Jays and Yankees but only if we could extend him.

I mean, that's the goal.

I think if we win the first two, give the ball to Kremer for a hopefully get right game on Thursday and Grayson on Friday against the Braves.

We've got Wells, Gibson and TBD.